Saving Angel
by Cut Throat 666
Summary: Angel is safe for now, but her life is still in danger. Will Freddy ever confess his feelings for the girl he loves? Will she ever truly be safe from Sabertooth?
1. Chapter 1

Making Friends

Chapter 1

It was a typical day a Bayville High. Students running to their classes so that they wouldn't be late.

The Brother Hood skipping the classes that they didn't like, as usual, and they would have succeeded too if it wasn't for Principal Kelly catching them loitering around in the hall way. After receiving their millionth detention slip in a row, the Brother Hood parted ways, and went to their respective classes. That is except for Freddy and Toad.

As soon as they were out of Principal Kelly's site, both Freddy and Toad left the building to go hang out behind the football bleachers.

Toad pulled out a flask from the inside of his sweater vest, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig, "You want some?"

"What's in it?" asked Freddy.

"Rum."

"Yeah, I'll take some." Freddy took the flask from Toad and swallowed, flinching as it left a bitter after taste in his mouth, "Yuck! How can you stand this stuff?"

"It's not as bad as getting beat up by Duncan everyday."

"Yeah, but it does some serious damage to your kidneys."

"I rather take this kind of beatin' than the kind that Duncan gives me any day. At least the rum gives ya something fun in return."

Freddy shook his head and looked around to see if any teachers had seen them. He saw no one, except a small girl, who looked to be very young sitting by herself. "Hey, check it out." he nudged Toad, "What's a little kid doing in High School territory?"

Toad gazed out in the distance, till he saw the young girl that Freddy was looking at, "Oh, her? That's Angel. She's 17 like you. She's just really small."

"Really? Why's she out here and not in class?"

"Why do you think? School's boring."

"Yeah, I guess so." just then the school bell rang, "Hey, I'm gonna go on ahead and go to my fourth period class. Don't get caught with that rum."

Toad chuckled, "What's the worse that can happen?"

"Principal Kelly could catch ya and tell Mystique."

"Yeah, well, Mystique can kiss my ass. I'm tired of her bullying me around all the time."

"Whatever. Later, Toad."

"Later, yo."

Later that day, during lunch time, Freddy decided to eat alone on a picnic bench. As he put the toppings on his sandwich, he noticed the small girl he had seen earlier sitting once again by herself under a tree. He was about to get up and get a better look at her, but then Duncan and his crew came over and blocked his view of her.

"Hey, blob boy." Duncan smirked, cracking his knuckles, "Why aren't ya sittin' with your loser friends, huh?"

"Maybe I just wanna eat by myself for once." Freddy glared at the young man with sheer hatred, "Why don't ya go and pick on somebody else for once, blondie."

"Ooh." taunted Duncan and his friends.

"What's wrong, blob boy? Don't like our company?"

"I don't like you and unless you want me to wipe the floor with you, I suggest that you get outta my face."

The sound of the fifth period bell rang, signaling that it was time for all of them to go.

"You're lucky, blob boy. I wouldn't want to fuck up my perfect attendance record just because of you. Come on, guys."

Freddy watched them leave and directed his attention back to where the Angel had sat, but was disappointed to find that she had gone. Sighing, he went to his math class, and sat in the back away from the others. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes, wishing that school would be over already. The sound of books dropping on the desk next to him made him open his eyes, looking over at the desk next to him, and to his surprise he saw that it was Angel.

"Uh… Hi." he said.

The young girl looked up at him, revealing to him for the first time what she really looked like. She was very small for her age, somewhere between four feet and five feet, her hair was a dirty blonde, her eyes were gave the hint of Asian heritage, except her eyes were a golden amber color. When Freddy greeted her she shied away a bit and didn't speak.

Freddy wasn't a least bit surprised at this. Most people don't even want anything to do with him. "Fuck you, then. Be a snob like everyone else." he faced forward and slouched down in his seat, angry that yet another girl wants nothing to do with him.

After class, Freddy headed to his locker, just as he opened it he noticed Angel approaching him out of the corner of his eye. Turning to see what she wanted, he was surprised to see her simply hand him a note, and then scurry away. He raised an eye brow, eyeing the not suspiciously, then finally opened it to read: 'I'm sorry. I'm a mute.'

"Aw, crap!" he groaned, "I'm such a jerk." he looked around for Angel, but didn't see her. Toad came around the corner, Freddy approached him, "Hey, Toad! Did you by any chance happen to see where Angel went?"

"Angel? Why you wanna go lookin' for her, yo? She owe you money?"

"No. I just want to find her and apologize."

"Apologize? For what?"

"Look! Just tell me whether or not you've seen her?"

"Yeah, that way." he pointed down the hall, "But I don't see why-"

"Thanks, man. I'll see ya later." Freddy rushed past him and headed down the hall, looking around, he finally found her in an abandoned classroom, once again sitting by herself. Angel was so beside herself that she didn't even notice him entering the room, "Hi." she gasped and tried to get away, "No, wait! I'm not gonna hurt you." she froze, looking at him with an uncertain expression, "Look. I wanted to say that I'm really sorry for what I said back there. I didn't know that you couldn't speak. If I'd of known that I wouldn't have acted like such a jerk. So… I'm sorry." Freddy looked down at his feet, shuffling them nervously.

Angle stared at him for a while, finally relaxed, she pulled out a peace of paper and a pen and wrote: "It's okay." and handed it to him.

"Cool." he smiled, after reading the note, "So… Um… You wanna hang out after school today?"

She nodded, and handed him another note: "Yes, but it'll have to be fore only 30 minutes."

Freddy frowned, "How come?"

She scribbled away: "My dad…"

"Oh, okay. So… I'll meet you back here at 3, cool?"

Smiling, she nodded.

"Cool. I'll see after school, then."

3 o'clock came rolling around slowly, but Freddy and Angel finally got the chance to meet up. They hung behind the football bleachers, Freddy asked her some yes or no questions to keep communication simple, until it was time for Angel to go meet up with her dad. A man wearing a flannel shirt, faded jeans, a white cowboy hat, and cowboy boots stood in the distance. Angel quickly got up, waved good-bye to Freddy, and ran towards the man in the distance.

Freddy met up with the rest of the Brother Hood and went back to the Brother Hood boarding house. They all sat down in the living room and watched tv.

"Man, this is boring." yawn Pietro, "Even racing with Evans is much more entertaining than the shit that's on tv."

"I'd rather be chasing after Kitty." moaned Lance.

Toad looked at Freddy and asked, "So did ya get a hold of that Angel girl today?"

"Yeah, she and I hung out after school till 3:30."

This caught the attention of both Lance and Pietro.

Toad stood up and stretched, "So, did she owe ya money or somethin'?"

"No. We just hung out."

"You mean a girl actually hung out with you?" Lance asked

"Yeah."

"With you?" Pietro speed up next to him.

"Yeah! Why is that so hard to believe!"

"Because, Freddrick, darling." Pietro teased, "Never before has a girl ever hung out with you, unless you made them."

"Well, not this one, and she didn't run away."

All three boys looked at each other doubtfully, then asked in unison, "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing's wrong with her!"

"Is she ugly?"

"Does she smell?"

"Is she poor?"

"No. No. And… No! She's perfectly fine, only she's a mute."

"Damn! I was going to guess that next." Pietro snapped his fingers.

"Oh, will you guys grow up!" Freddy got up and stomped out of the room.

"Aw, come on, Freddy!" laughed Lance, "Come back. We're only playing with ya."

Despite all of their taunts and teases, Freddy continued to hang out with Angel everyday for the next two weeks. They'd skip their boring classes and hang out behind the bleachers and for thirty minutes after school. They became very close, as close as best friends. Sometimes they could be seen sitting together at lunch time. Angel never really eats, but she does wait patiently for Freddy to finish his meal, but not always. Sometimes she would get so impatient, that she would climb up on him shoulder, perch like a frog, and nuzzle his head and neck, urging him to hurry up. Other times, they would nap outside during their classes. Freddy would lay on his back snoozing away, while Angel laid curled in a tight ball on top of his belly.

Freddy didn't care how much he got teased, all that really mattered was that he had a real friend who wouldn't laugh at him for making mistakes and would always listen to him when he hada problems. He just wished he could do the same for Angel.

Angel was just glad that she finally had a friend.


	2. No One Touches My Friend

No One Touches My Friend

Chapter 2

The next day at Bayville High, during fourth period, Freddy was patiently waiting for Angel meet up with him behind the bleachers. He waited a good ten minutes before she finally arrived.

"Hey, Angel." he smiled, "What took ya so long?" But his smile went away, when he saw that Angel was crying, "What's wrong?"

She ran up to him and hid behind him. He opened his mouth to ask again, but his answer came stomping across the campus towards them.

"Hey! Mute freak!" yelled Duncan with his crew not too far behind him, "I got a bone to pick with you!"

Freddy stood in front of her to protect her, "Leave her alone, Mathews!"

"You ain't on my hate list of today, Dukes, don't put yourself at the top by protecting mute girl over there."

"What's she done that's got you all riled up?"

"It doesn't concern you."

"Oh, it does. Cause that's my friend that you're after and if you're gonna do anything to hurt her, then you're gonna have to answer to me."

"Fine! I hope you realize that by protecting her you just brought yourself more trouble than she's worth."

"Mathews… You have no idea what fine line you just crossed."

"Get him!"

Duncan and his crew rushed in on Freddy, taking advantage of his slower reflexes.

"Stay behind me, Angel."

Duncan's two friends reached him first. They grabbed him by the throat and kneed him in the stomach, but their attack bounced right off of him.

"What the hell?" they gasped.

"Idiots!" yelled Duncan, coming in for an upper cut, "He's so fat that he can't even feel your attacks on his stomach, go for his fat face or at least his groin!" he swung and got Freddy right on the chin. "Ha!"

Angel gasped as he stumbled back, bracing herself to catch him, but he found his footing, "Don't worry, Angel. It'll take a lot more to take me down than what these guys throw at me." he grabbed the two that were still wrapped around his neck, pried them off, and slammed their heads together. Just enough to knock them out cold. "Now, for you…" he reached out for Duncan, but Duncan ducked out from Freddy's reach.

"Have to be faster than that to catch me, blob boy. " he reached down, grabbed some dirt, and threw in in Freddy's eyes.

"Gah! I can't see."

"Awe, too bad." he kneed Freddy in the groin, making him drop to his knees, and punched down on the top of his head, stunning him, "Ha Ha All that fat makes a good defense for your stomach, but it does nothing for that thick skull of yours. And now… For you…" Duncan glared at Angel, who stood behind Freddy, frozen with fear, "I'll make you pay for ruining my chances for a super cool date with Jean Grey!" he moved around Freddy and grabbed Angel by the front of her shirt, rearing back his fist, "Maybe this'll teach you not to be so accident prone." his fist speed towards her face, but it did not make contact, "What the!"

Freddy had finally snapped out of his stupor and turned around just in time to see Duncan grab Angel, infuriated he grabbed Duncan's arm, and slammed him on the ground hard. Getting up, he walked over to the side of Duncan, grabbed him by his football jersey, and threw him ten feet away from them. Duncan's body flying body landed in a nearby trash can.

Breathing heavily, Freddy turned to face Angel, "Are you… Okay?"

Angel stared at Freddy, her eyes tearing up, she threw herself at him, clenching his bib over halls tightly in her hands, she wept into his stomach.

Taken back by her sudden burst of emotion, he froze, when he finally relaxed his smiled and stroked her head, "It's okay, Angel. I'm alright. Come on. Let's go find a new place where we can hang out when we're not in class." he chuckled, Angel looked up at him, rubbed her eyes, and sniffed. They snuck around the school grounds, until they finally found the old abandoned class room where the X-Men freed Forge from his limbo verse project. "This should do. Not even the janitor comes down here. How ya feelin', Angel?" Angel gave him a thumbs up, but she still held a troubled gaze, "Angel… Is something… Wrong?"

Sighing, she made her way over to one of the tables, and sat down on top of it.

"Angel?"

Pulling out her small note pad and pen that she carried around, whenever she needed to say something, she wrote: "My dad got angry at me last night… When he's angry he says some strange things."

"What kind of things?"

"When he's really angry he says that I'm not his daughter… That… I'm nothing more than a burden."

Freddy was unsure what to say, "Maybe… Maybe he didn't really mean that." she looked at him with hopeful eyes, "Sometimes dads say things that they don't mean. Mainly when they're under a lot of stress. Has your dad been under a lot of stress lately?" she nodded her head, "Well, maybe that's the case. Deep down inside, he really loves you, you just gotta be patient with him." Angel thought about it for a moment, smiling widely, she ran up to him and gave him a hug.

Pulling away from him, she wrote another note: "My dad's not going to be home for the next couple of days, so we can hang out together even longer!"

"Cool. Hey, since we've got more time to hang out, you wanna go hang out at the mall? We don't have to buy anything just to hang out there." she nodded her head vigorously, "Sweet. We'd better go to the rest of our classes before principal Kelly gives us detention."


	3. Enter the Father

Enter the Father

Chapter 3

For the next couple of days, Angel and Freddy would continue to hang out with each other from morning to 9 at night, then Angel would go home. Freddy offered to take her home, but Angel refused to let him know where she really lived. Her father did not want her bringing people to their house without his permission. They enjoyed their time together, but soon Angel's father came home and Angel and Freddy had to go back to hanging out with each other mainly on the schools property.

Unfortunately, the times that Angel skipped class with Freddy to hang out with him did not go unnoticed by the principal.

Principal Kelly sat in his office, looking over Angel's attendance report. He frowned disapprovingly, "Hmmm It appears that Angel skips the same class periods as Mr. Dukes. How unfortunate that this young girl is throwing her life away by hanging around with garbage like him. I better notify her father." sighing, he picked up his phone, and dialed Angel's father's number. The phone rang a few times until someone finally picked up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hello. This is principal Kelly and I would like to notify you that your daughter has been skipping certain class periods for the past couple of weeks. If this continues, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to suspend her, but I won't if you come down and talk to her. You see, from what I've seen on her attendance report she skips the same class periods as another one of our students. And I won't lie, this student is a bad seed, and I just want to save her before she turns out to be just like him."

"Him?"

"Yes."

"I'll be right down to talk to her."

"Thank you. I'm sorry to trouble you, sir."

"Oh, no trouble at all. Thank you for notifying me of my daughters… Miss guided ways. I'm sure that I'll be able to set her back on the right path."

"I am glad to hear that."

"Good-bye."

"Yes. Good-bye, sir."

Later, after school got out…

Freddy was waiting for Angel back at their new hiding place, 20 minutes had paced, but Angel never showed up. Worried that Duncan or someone else might have gotten hold of her, he went looking for her. Making his way through the school halls, he found no trace of her. Thinking that her dad might have picked her up early before giving her the chance to say good-bye, Freddy turned back around, and head for the nearest exit. But he stopped, when he saw bright light laminating from a door that was cracked open. Without even thinking, he walked towards the door. As he got closer, he could hear angry growling, and sniffling. On the wall across the door were two silhouette shadows. One that looked to be the shadow of a very large man and the other to be small huddled figure. Freddy soon recognized the smaller shadow to belong to Angel. Quietly he approached the door and peered in. He could see Angel clearly, but the large man inside with her had his back turned towards him.

The large man growled furiously at the small girl, "You little whelp!" he struck her hard across her face, "How dare you waste my time by having me come down here!" Angel held her cheek in pain and looked at him with scared eyes, "Your principal called and told me that you were skipping classes. If I'd of know that you were going to do that, then I would've just left you at the house, instead of wasting my money on enrolling you here!" he grabbed her and slammed her against the wall.

Freddy gasped, but didn't move. He wouldn't make a move, unless he knew that she was in real danger.

The large man threw her to the ground. She fell with a sickening crack, silent screams escaped her mouth. He then press his large boot down in the middle of her back, "You make me sick! I'm ashamed to even claim you my own… You're nothing! You hear me! Nothing!" he raised his foot high to crush her back.

Now was the moment that Freddy had been waiting for. He burst into the room and slammed into the larger man before he could even bring his foot down on Angel. Freddy turned his attention on Angel and raced to her side, cradling her in his arms, "Angel! Angel! Are you alright?" Freddy looked into her eyes, her eyes were open, but they showed no sign of Angel being aware of the current events going around her.

"So…" growled the larger man, "I assume that yer the one that that brat's been skipping class with?"

Freddy became angry, laying Angel down; he rounded on the man with rage, but froze, when he saw who the other man was, "Sabertooth!"

"The one and only… Now tell me… Why exactly are you hanging around my so-called daughter?"

"You're… You're her father?" horror struck, Freddy took a step back.

"Yeah. You can say that. Now answer my question."

"She's my friend."

"Awe, how sweet. Too bad for you, though. I don't want her to have any friends! As a matter of fact… I don't even want her to have any kind of happiness in her life." with amazing speed, Sabertooth ran up to Freddy, grabbed him by his arm, and threw him over his shoulder. Freddy's body came crashing down with a loud thud, "You still want to be friends with her?"

Gasping for air, he answered, "Yes…"

"Wrong answer." Sabertooth grabbed Freddy's head and slammed in back against the hard floor. Smiling at Freddy's dazed state and the sign of blood, he kicked hard in the side, sending him flying three feet across the room. Coughing hard, Freddy got to his hands and knees, and tried to get up. Sabertooth snickered and kneed him in the face, "Heh Heh This is just like kicking an oversized beach ball." He raised his foot again to stomp on his head, but Freddy caught his foot, and slammed his elbow down on Sabertooth's knee joint dislocating it badly. Roaring in pain, he fell down, as Freddy struggled to get back up.

"Is… Is… That… All you got?" he panted.

Sabertooth glared at him, raised himself up with his good leg, and then reset his bad kneed back in place, then began to laugh.

"Oh, crap!"

Leaping over Freddy's head and landing behind him, Saberooth grabbed both of Freddy's arms, placed his foot in the middle of his back, and pulled Freddy's arms out of their sockets. Freddy screamed in pain, but Sabertooth did not let up. Still holding onto Freddy's dislocated arms, Sabertooth swung Freddy around and around in circles, then let go. Freddy's body flew out of the class room's window and landed outside. Pieces of glass shards protruding out of his body.

"That was fun." Sabertooth chuckled, "Now… As for you." he stalked over to Angel's limp body, here eyes still held that far away look. He picked her up, "You've been a bad little girl. When we get home, yer gonna wish that you were never born."

Outside the class room, Freddy struggled to get up, but it was no use. He was too badly beaten. "Have to… Get to… Angel." Gasping, he tried to crawl his way back to the classroom, but stopped when Sabertooth's foot came crashing down on his hand. "AGH!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" he chuckled evilly, "Word to the wise, punk. If you want to live, I suggest that you have nothing more to do with Angel. If you don't do as I suggest, well… Accidents can happen. Now, if you'll excuse me, lil' Angel here must be taught a lesson. See ya."

"Angel…" he reached his hand out for her as Sabertooth walked away with her in his arms. The world began to spin and darkness over came him.

Three days later, Freddy woke up to find himself in a hospital bed, covered in bandages and casts.

"Wha?"

Lance, Pietro, and Toad all jumped up when they saw that he was finally awake.

"Freddy!" Toad exclaimed, "Thank God you're alright!"

"What do ya know. He survived. I owe ya 20 bucks, Lance." Pietro snickered.

"Shut up! This ain't the time nor the place, Pietro. How ya feelin', buddy?"

"Not too good… Where's Angel?"

"Hasn't been to school for a couple of days." Pietro frowned and folded his arms, "Come to think of it, she stopped coming right after we found you laying unconscious outside the science lab."

"You think she's got somethin' to do with Freddy getting all banged up?" Toad asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I mean, Freddy's so-called "buddy" doesn't show up the day after Freddy got beat up. Something stinks around here and for once it ain't Toad."

"Hey!"

"You got it all wrong!" Freddy cried, trying to get up, "It's not Angel's fault that I got hurt."

"Then who's fault is it?"

"It-It was Sabertooth…"

"Sabertooth?" the three said in unison.

"What the hell would he hurt you for?" asked Lance.

"He's Angel's father. He found out that she had been skipping and he started to hurt her. I tried to stop him, but…"

"We get the picture." Pietro eyes very dark, "Come on, guys. Let's go tell Mystique that Fred's okay." Lance and Toad noticed that dark look and new exactly what was up.

Freddy, who also saw that dark look, became really worried, "Hey, you guys ain't gonna do anything to hurt Angel, are you? I mean, none of this was her fault. I chose to help her."

"Don't worry, Freddy. We're not going to hurt her." waiting for both Toad and Lance to leave the room, Pietro closed the door behind them, "We won't hurt her… We'll just make her life at school a living hell."

"But Freddy said-"

"Shut up, Toad! It's Angel's fault that he's in there, even though Fred says that it's not. If she wasn't always playing the damn damsel in distress card or always running to him for protection he wouldn't be in this predicament. Am I right?"

"Yeah…"

"We're going to show her what happens when one of our brothers gets hurt."

"How long we'll we do this?"

"As long as it takes to get it through her head that she's no longer allowed to be around Fred anymore. It's for his own good." Lance and Toad thought about it, then shortly agreed that they'd do everything that they could to keep Angel away from Freddy, "Good. If you see her at school tomorrow… Give her hell."


	4. The Only Way I Can Protect You

The Only Way I Can Protect You

Chapter 4

Shortly after Lance, Pietro, and Toad left the hospital, Mystique arrived. She entered the room that Freddy was assigned.

"Mystique?" Freddy's eyes widened in surprise, "I never thought that you'd come."

"I maybe cold hearted, Freddy, but I'm not too cold hearted to check up on one of my boys. How are you feeling, Freddy?"

"I look as I feel. The doctor's had to pop my bones back into place and a whole bunch of other stuff."

"Who did this to you?

"Sabertooth."

"Sabertooth?"

"Yeah… And I thought that nobody moves the Blob." he chuckles.

Mystique frowned, "This is no laughing matter, Freddy. Sabertooth shouldn't have been able to do this to you. You're mutant powers give you enough strength to even beat him to a bloody pulp."

"Yeah, well. You never trained us to fight against someone like him."

"I trained you to be fight Logan."

"Logan ain't like him." he looks away from her, a sad and angry look in his eyes, "Sabertooth's more vicious, there's nothing human in his eyes, and it's like… It's like he has no sense of compassion for anyone, not even his own flesh and blood."

"What are you talking about, Freddy?"

"Nothing."

"Freddy-"

"Excuse me, ma'am." Freddy's doctor entered the room, "Are you any relation to Mr. Dukes here?"

"Yes. I'm his legal guardian."

"Oh, that's good. I was beginning to think that Mr. Dukes here had no one. Um… Could I, please, speak to you privately, Ms?"

"Please… Call me Raven. And yes. I'll be right back, Freddy."

"Okay, Raven."

Mystique and the doctor stepped outside Freddy's room and closed the door.

"Now then, Raven. After examining Mr. Duke's injuries today, I not only found many fractures and broken bones and bruises, but I also found this under one of the many folds in the back of his neck." he held up what looked to be a small computer chip with hooks. Dropping it in Mystique's hand, he asked, "Haven any idea what and how it got there?"

"What, no. How… I have a pretty good idea." she clutched the chip in her hands, "Doctor… May I have this? I think that this chip maybe something from my workplace."

"I don't see why not. Clearly it wasn't the chip that was the cause of his injuries. Unfortunately, Mr. Dukes will not be allowed to leave the hospital for at least a week or so."

"I understand. Thank you, doctor."

For the next few days, Angel did not attend school. Her absence was more than enough to fuel the remaining Brother Hood's anger.

She arrived at school, a day before Freddy. Having no memory of the events that occurred between Freddy and her father, she went searching for her friend. When she didn't find him in his usual hang outs, she attempted to ask his friends Pietro, Lance, and Toad, who were less than helpful.

"Well, lookie here, boys." Pietro sneered, "If it ain't Freddy's little girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? I thought she was more of pet monkey sitting on his shoulders." Toad glared.

"More like a growth." Lance cracked his knuckles and approached her first, "You got a lot of nerve showing your face here after what you put Freddy through." she looked at Lance with a confused look, "Don't give me that look! You know exactly what happened!" he grabbed her by the front on her shirt and yanked her towards him, "You stuck your old man on Freddy and now Freddy's in the hospital because of you!" At these words Angel began to panic. Struggling to get out of Lance's grasp, so she could go to the hospital and check on Freddy.

Toad hopped on top of the lockers and smiled down at her, "You ain't goin' anywhere, doll face. Not until you've paid for what happened to Freddy."

Just then, Kitty and Jean came around the corner and saw what was going on.

"Lance!" Kitty yelled angrily, "Put her down!"

Surprised at the sound of his girlfriend's voice, Lance quickly let go of Angle, "Kitty! Uh… Hi. This isn't what it looks like."

"Oh, yeah?" she glared, then looked to Jean, "Jean?"

Jean nodded and scanned Lance's mind, not too pleased with what she found, "You guys make me sick!" without even thinking, Jean threw out her hand, and used her telekinetic powers to send all three Brother Hood members flying backwards.

Kitty approached Angel, "Are you okay?"

Angel was too worried about Freddy to even realized what had just transpired that she ran past Kitty and Jean and off the school property to go see Freddy at the hospital.

"Jean… Where's she going?"

"To the hospital. To check on Freddy."

"Why would she want to go and do a thing like that after what these jerk wads tried to pull?"

"Because… Freddy is her friend."

"Oh."

It took Angel about an hour to reach the hospital on foot, since she couldn't voice the person that she was looking for, she wrote Freddy's name down and showed it to the nurse at the front desk. After the nurse told her where she could find him, Angel bolted down the hall, until she found his room. There he sat, watching tv, and eating a very small cafeteria meal.

Freddy was startled by the sound of someone knocking on his open door, he looked up, and was surprised to see Angel standing here, "Angel! What are you doing here?"

Angel entered the room, here eyes wandering over to his injuries, tears streamed down her eyes, as she ran up to him, and hugged him around his neck.

"Angel…" he swallowed his own tears at her caring embrace, "It's good too see you. I've missed you." she hugged him even tighter, signifying that she missed him too, "How did you know I was here?"

She pulled away to pull out her little note pad and pen and began scribbling away her thoughts, "Your friends told me that you were here… They said that my father did this to you. Why would he do this to you?"

"You don't remember?" She shook her head no. Freddy reflected back on the day that he tried to save her from her father and he remembered the warning that Sabertooth had given him. Scared for Angel's safety and his own, he lied about what happened, "I just got in his way is all."

Angel sat on the edge of his bed, staring at him, knowing deep down that Freddy wasn't telling her something. She wrote another message, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." he diverted his eyes from hers and stared straight at the tv, "Why didn't' you tell me that Sabertooth was your father?"

"You know who he is?" she blinked.

"I've heard of him and seen him a couple of times. How come you didn't tell me who your father was? Where afraid that I couldn't handle the truth?"

Angel looked down at her note pad and pen, for the very first time, she didn't know what to write.

Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, he sighed, "I think you should make some new friends, Angel." she looked up at him with confusion, "Having just one friend your entire life ain't exactly healthy, ya know? Who knows, if you make the right friends, you could be just a popular as Duncan Mathews."

She scribbled away furiously, "What are you saying? Do you not want to be friends with me anymore?"

He continued to stare at the tv, struggling to hold back his tears, "Yes… You need better friends than me."

"But I don't want better friends! I want you! You're my best friend!" by now she was shaking and had lost control of her emotions.

Gritting his teeth and gulping really hard he said in a low voice, "This you better go… You don't want to get into more trouble with the school and your dad."

She was so upset at what Freddy had just said, that she threw her note pad and pen across the room, and ran out of the room and out of the hospital.

By now Freddy was silently crying to himself, angry at what he just said and down, "I'm sorry, Angel… This is the only way I can protect you from your dad. I hope that one day… You'll realize this."


	5. The Father's Lecture

-1The Father's Lecture

Chapter 5

Angel stormed out of the hospital, tears streaming down her eyes; unaware of the people whom she bumped into. If she had a voice, she would be wailing, instead the only thing she could manage were silent cries. Angel ran for what seemed like forever, until she was too tired to run anymore. Pausing to catch her breath, she looked up to see that she had made her way to downtown Bayville, where most of the franchises and big businesses were built. Tired and exhausted, Angel leaned back against one of the nearby buildings, and slid down. As she sat on the ground, pulling her knees close to her, she wrapped her arms around her legs, and hid her face within her knees.

'Why?' she asked her self, 'Why doesn't he want to be my friend anymore? What did I do wrong?' she sat there for a while, till she heard heavy footsteps walk towards her and stop right in front of her. She looked up and saw that it was her father, Victor Creed.

Creed glared down at his daughter and growled, "What the hell are ya doin' outta school!"

Angel stood up, wiping her tears away, out of habit she reached for her notepad and pen, but it wasn't there. She looked sheepishly at her father and mouthed the word hospital.

"What the hell were ya doin' at the hospital?"

She mouthed Freddy's name and that was enough to set him off.

He grabbed her by her upper arm and dragged her to the pick up truck, "I told ya to stay the hell away from him!" opening up the door, he threw her in, he walked around to the driver's side, and got in himself. He pulled out of his parking spot and drove off. "That boy is nothin' but a punk! Ya think a punk like him wants to be yer friend? No! No one will ever want to be yer friend, because yer small an' weak! An' in this world, kiddo, it's survival of the fittest. Eat or be eaten. An' right now, yer barely hangin' on by a thread, an' ya know why? It's because yer dear ol' dad's protectin' yer ass from punks like fat boy in the hospital. Hell, the only reason he's probably bein' yer friend is because he wants somethin'." he looked over to see Angel crying even harder, "Quit yer cryin'! Cryin' is for the weak!" but she couldn't stop crying, "I said quit yer cryin'!" he reached over and smacked her across her face, "Yer a Creed damnit! An' Creeds' don't cry. Not over cuts and bruises and especially not over punks and loosers who try to take us for granted. Ya got that?" Angel vigorously wiped her eyes, stifling a sniffle, she finally nodded her head yes. "Good." he looked at the radio clock and frowned, "Well, it looks as though ya only got ten minutes left before school's out. Might as well go home." he looked at Angel one last time, seeing that she was a little more calmed down, "Don't get too comfy there, kid. You have a punishment comin' to ya for skippin' school today an' wastin' my time." Angel shuddered at the thought of what type of punishment her father had in mind, but it whatever it was the pain would not compare to the pain that she felt in her heart.


	6. Memories and Turmoil

-Memories and Turmoil

Chapter 6

When Angel and Creed returned home, Creed wasted no time in putting her punishment into effect. As soon as they entered through the front door, Creed grabbed Angel by her hair and slammed her head into the wall, he then threw her to the ground, and kicked her in her side. Her body flew five feet away from him and landed with a hard thunk at the bottom of the stairs; she tried to crawl away.

"Oh, don't think yer gettin' off that easily." with heavy footsteps, he moved to where she laid. She looked up at him with fear, pleading with him with her eyes to stop, but her merely smiled as took off his belt and folded it in his hand, "My old man use to beat me like this when I was bad… Maybe this'll teach you not skip school and waste my time ever again." he grabbed her by the back of her neck, ripping away the back of her shirt, and began delivering a series of harsh lashes across her back. Not stopping until he saw the first sign of blood. "Now, get to yer room or else I'll really give ya somethin' to cry about."

Angel slowly made her way of the stairs and into her room. Tears rolled down the cheeks of her eyes as she removed what was left of her shirt. Angel then limped her way over to her bed, laid down on her stomach; staring off into space till her eyes noticed the picture frame of what looked to be a smiling Victor Creed, holding an older woman that looked similar to Angel only with beautiful long blonde hair and feline like features, and a five year old version of herself. All were smiling happily in the picture.

Memories of Angel's early childhood flashed through her eyes. Memories of Victor Creed playing with her, hugging her, and telling her bedtime stories passed through her mind. Then memories of the older woman in the picture surfaced, there weren't many, due to the fact that the older woman was always sick and bed ridden. But there were a few fond memories that she had of the woman that she knew as her mother. Her mother was too sick to play with her or teach her anything important to help her later on in life, but she wasn't too sick to talk to her daughter. Angel remembered one particular talk with her mother, it was right after Angel had done something to make Creed yell at her, and she went crying into her mother's arms.

After her mother told Creed off for yelling at her, her mother said to her in a calm voice, "Don't take too much to heart what your father says. He really does love you and cares for you too, it's just he tends to have a bad temper at times, and you must be patient with him." her mother hugged her tightly, her calm voice slowly began to quiver, "No matter what he says…. Always remember that he is your father… And-And that he loves you. It's just in his nature to be angry."

A knock on Angel's bedroom door pulled her out of her memory, she looked up to see Creed leaning against her doorway. She turned her eyes away from him, not wanting him to see her tears.

He entered her room, without any sign of an invitation, and sat down on the edge of her bed, glancing at their family portrait, he sighed, "Ya miss yer mother, don't ya? I miss her too." he continued on, knowing that he wouldn't get any kind of verbal response from her, "I loved her, yer mother, with every breath of my heart. Even when she betrayed me… I took her back. Before she died she asked me to take care of ya an' I've been tryin'. Anyways… Food's on the table, if'n yer hungry. I'm gonna be gone for a couple of weeks doin' some business with some associates of mine. It's yer job to make sure that ya go to school an' make it to all of yer classes. If I find out when I get back that ya missed any for some stupid reason, you'll be hurtin' more than ya are now, got it?" he waited for a couple of seconds for any kind of objections before he got up, "Good. I'll be takin' off tomorrow, stay outta trouble while I'm away." with that he left her room and closed the door.

Angel sat up and sighed, staring at the picture one last time, before putting on a loose shirt and heading down stairs to eat. Thinking out to the image of her deceased mother.

'I'm tryin', mom… I'm tryin' real heart to be patient with daddy. I know he loves me… He's just gotta love me if he's kept me around this long. I just-I just wish that you were still here, then maybe Daddy wouldn't be as angry as he always is.'

The next day at school, Angel's life didn't get any easier. The Brother Hood boys were giving her a hard time. Since Freddy wasn't going to be back for another week, there was really no one there to stop them from picking on her.

Lance would occasionally bump her or trip her and even stick a kick me sign on her back. Toad would break into her locker, take all of her school related materials and personal female items, and scatter them all over the halls. Sometimes he would even pick pocket her money, so that she didn't have a lunch for the afternoon. Unfortunately, Pietro wasn't nearly as nice about harassing Angel as the other Brother Hood boys. He would slap her books out of her hands and taunt her in many different ways that he could think of. One time he even snuck into the girls locker room during the period Angel had gym class and wait till she was the last one in there to pull his little pranks.

Being as shy as she was, Angel didn't really want to get undressed in front of the other girls or even take her shower. She had just wrapped a towel around herself, when Pietro snuck up behind her, and pinched her butt. She jumped and spun around to see who had just done it, but found no one behind her. When she turned around, she jumped to see Pietro standing right in front of her.

"Hey, babe. Getting ready to take a shower?" the way that he smiled made her nervous. She held the towel around her even tighter as she back way, but he simply sped right behind her, and grabbed her by her shoulders, "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you… Just yet." he shoved her to the floor, when she flipped over onto her back, he was sitting right on top of her, "I'm going to give you a warning, simple as that. Stay the hell away from Freddy. An' if you have a problem with him, grow some balls and take it up with him; don't be a pussy and send our old man to fix your problem for you!" Angel didn't like where this conversation was going. Panic was starting to overwhelm her that she tried to crawl away, but Pietro was faster and he had pinned her hands above her head, "What's wrong? Is the widdle girlie scared?" he laughed, he then noticed that the top of her towel came undone and that part of her breast was showing, "Well, what do we have here, hmm?" he placed both of her hands into one of his and with the free hand he placed it upon her breast and squeezed, "Wow. These are a lot bigger than I thought they were. At first I thought you were completely flat chested." the sign of her discomfort provoked him even more, "Does this make you uncomfortable?" he leaned into her ear and whispered in a hot breath, "I'll stop if you say my name." he pulled away to look at her face, he could tell that she wanted to scream, "Go ahead. Scream. No one will hear you." Just then he heard the sound of someone entering the locker room and he took off.

Once Pietro was officially off of her, she got up, clutching her towel, and sprinted to the sound of the person who had just come in. She looked behind her to see if he was still lurking around, but found that he was nowhere to be seen.

"Angel?" the sound of Kitty's voice brought her attention back in front of her, "Angel are you okay?" Angel didn't respond, simple stared at Kitty, then head back for the showers. Kitty saw some discoloration on part of Angel's back, "Hey, Angel. What's that on your back?" but Angel disappeared in one of the showers before Kitty had a chance to chase after her. She was too shy and too scared to let anyone really come near her, unless they caught her off guard. Kitty stood by the shower door that Angel was in, feeling sorry for her, she said, "Hey, Angel… Jean and I were going to the mall today to go shopping for prom dresses, since prom is like a month away, and we like wanted to get there before all of the good ones are taken. Anyways… We were wandering if, like… You wanted to come dress shopping with us after school today." Unable to believe what she was hearing, Angel stuck her head out of the shower, to give her that 'did I hear you right' look. "For real, girlfriend. If you like pick out a dress with us, then you'll get to impress a certain someone." her mischievous smile, made Angel blink with confusion, "I'm talking about Freddy, silly." on that note, Angel ducked her head back into the shower and slammed the door in Kitty's face. Kitty was bewildered at this action, "Was it something I said?" when Angel didn't come back out to reply, Kitty simply sighed, and headed back out towards the gym. Before she left she called out, "If you change your mind, Jean and I will be out in front of the school waiting for like 15 minutes."

Feeling like the world was crashing down on her, Angel sat down on the shower floor, letting the drops of water pour down onto her head. She didn't understand was the Brother Hood boys were taunting her like this. She didn't understand why Freddy no longer wanted to be her friend. She didn't understand why her father was always angry with her. And she especially didn't understand why Kitty and Jean wanted her to go dress shopping with them.

'Freddy… Where are you when I need you?' she wept, 'I want us to still be friends. Why don't you?'


	7. My Father

-1Chapter 7

My Father's Enemy

After Angle got done with her shower, she got dressed, and went outside. School was out and it was time to go home. But for Angel, going home was not on her schedule. She looked around, spotting Jean and Kitty by their car, and spotting The Brother Hood boys walking in her general direction.

In a split second decision, Angel dashed across the lawn, and over towards Jean and Kitty. Knowing that The Brother Hood boys wouldn't mess with her if she was with them.

"Hmph." sneered Pietro, "Go ahead and seek comfort in those that pity you, you mute freak. Just remember that they can always protect you."

Pretending not to have heard him, she continued on to Jean and Kitty's car.

"Hey, Angel." Kitty smiled. "You decided to join us after all." Angel nodded and started to climb into their car, taking one last look back behind her before they drove off.

"Hey, Pietro." piped Todd, "What exactly did you do to get her that spooked?"

"Don't worry about it, Todd."

"It wasn't anything bad… Was it?"

"I said don't worry about it!" he turned and headed in the direction of Lance's jeep. Speaking only to himself, "What happened in the girl's locker room is only the beginning…"

Two hours later at Bayville Mall…

Kitty, Jean, and Angel are shopping for dresses. Well, Kitty and Jean at the very most. Angel simply just looked at the dresses and watched Kitty and Jean parade around in fancy dresses, applauding to only ones that she thought looked good on them.

"Come on, Angel!" Kitty dragged her over to a rack of dresses, "The whole point of dress shopping for Prom is to pick out the coolest dress there is."

Angel grudgingly walked over to one of the dress racks and looked through them. Frowning when she found that all of the dresses were skimpy looking and left nothing to cover the back.

Jean sensed her uneasiness. It was hard for her not to use her powers to search Angel's mind, but she tried as best as she could not to pry. "Angel." Angel turned to her voice, "Are you having trouble finding a dress?" Angel nodded, "What exactly are you looking for in a dress?" Angel made a sweeping motion with her hand over the back side of the dress and Jean caught on immediately, "Oh, I see. You're really shy about your body, aren't you?" Angel nodded, "Hmm Well, let's see if they got any dresses that aren't so revealing…" she looked through all of the dresses in the store, but found none that would cover all of Angel's back. "Huh? Well, it doesn't look like they have any dresses here that suite your criteria. Let's move onto the next store."

By the time the mall closed, all three of the girls had went through every single clothing store in the mall, and found nothing that Angel liked.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find a dress that you liked, Angle." Jean said.

"Yeah, like, I'm surprised that fashion designers didn't think to make dresses for the shy."

"Well, we've got to get going. You need a ride home?"

Before Angle could answer, Logan had pulled up next to them on his motorcycle.

"Hey, kids. Everyone was startin' to get worried about ya when you two didn't show up for dinner."

"Sorry, Mr. Logan." said Kitty, "We were trying to help Angel find a dress for prom, but none of the stores had anything that she liked."

"Angel, huh?" he looked down at the small girl with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and was shocked to see that she was giving him an animalistic death glare from hell, "What's you're problem, kid?"

Jean and Kitty looked down at her and saw that look in her eyes.

Jean reached out, "Angel?"

At Jean's words Angel snapped out on her anger and just shook her head and walked off.

"Angel, wait!"

"Hey, kid! It's dangerous to be out at this time of night. Why don't ya let us give ya a ride home?"

But Angel didn't want a ride home, at least not from anyone associate with Logan.

"Logan…" Kitty whispered.

"Don't worry, half pint, I'll keep an eye on her. You and Jean just head on home, okay?"

"Okay, Logan."

The girls got into their car and left the parking lot, while Logan drove off after Angel.

Angel had just walked down a few blocks when she noticed Logan following her out of the corner of her eye. She walked down a couple more blocks till she turned a corner and then booked it. Logan noticed that something was up with her posture after a couple of blocks and when he saw her disappear around a corner, he tried to follower her. When he rounded around the corner, into a dark alley way, but her scent just immediately disappeared. He scanned the area, but found nothing.

"Where the hell did she go?"

Angel hid in the shadows, waiting for Logan to leave. It was one thing that she was grateful that her father had taught her, it was the art of disappearing, and masking your scent from humans and animals. He made sure that she learned that technique if Weapon X happened to come across her.

After Logan had left, she emerged from her hiding place, and continued in the opposite direction of Logan to go home.


	8. Bottled Up Inside

-1Chapter 8

Bottled Up Inside

For the next few days, Angel was afraid to go back to school. She didn't want Freddy's friends to pick on her anymore and she clearly didn't want to have anything to do with people who were associated with Logan. It wasn't until about a month later that her father came back home to find her asleep on the couch and a stack of letters lying on the table stand next to her. He picked one up, seeing that it was from the school, he opened it, and read it. He was not happy at all.

"Wake up!" he grabbed one end of the couch and threw her out of it and onto the floor. Once he set it down, he threw the stack of letters at her feet, "What the hell is this?! Why haven't you gone to school in over a month?!"

Angel swallowed hard and tried to scribble out a message for him, but he wasn't patient today.

"Come here!" he grabbed her, dragging her over to the couch, and threw her across his lap face down, "I am sick of this!" he removed his belt, folded it in half, and began delivering painful blows to her hind end, "I don't know why you've been skipping school, but dammit! Yer wastin' my money and my time!" if she could scream her pain, she would of, her father continued the abuse, until his rage subsided and his belt broke. Throwing his belt to the side, he rolled his daughter off of his lap, "Yer goin' to school tomorrow and if I get called in, because yer skippin' classes or yer hangin' out with that fat kid again, I'm gonna make ya wish ya were never born."

The next day at school, Freddy had just been given the okay to go back to school. Mystique had told him that the reason way Sabertooth had defeated him so easily was because he place an inhibitor chip on the back on his neck which completely shut off all of his powers. Freddy had heard rumors about Angel not being at school for over a month and he began to worry.

He thought about skipping school to go look for Angel, but he saw her walk by towards her locker. He wanted to walk up to her and give her a hug, but he remembered Sabertooth's words and he didn't want to take any chances. Sabertooth was the biggest threat to her life right now and there was nothing he could really do to protect her. He didn't want to ask Mystique for help, because she wouldn't be interested in helping her unless she was a mutant. He tried asking his friends for help and advice, but they simply shied away and tried to change the subject more than once. His own pride would let him ask the X-Men for help.

Later that day, the two had finally met up in math class, they both avoided making eye contact. Finally Angel got up the never to write a note to him.

"Why don't you want to be friends with me? Did I do something wrong?"

He clenched his teeth, but showed now expression, then wrote back, "I just don't want to, okay. Now leave me alone!"

She struggled to fight back her tears, "You're my only friend."

"Well, get some more friends."

"I can't… You're the only one who is kind to me?"

"Whatever. I heard from my friends that you've been hanging out with Jean and Kitty."

"We were looking for prom dresses… That and I was trying to get away from your white haired friend."

"Why?"

She became frustrated and embarrassed, "Never mind. You don't even want to be my friend any more, so why should I even tell you?"

Freddy hated himself for doing this. He really like Angel and wanted to comfort her, but he had to push her away in order to protect her. "Finally you're getting the point. I was beginning to think that you were both dumb and mute. Now stop talking to me, I'm trying to learn something for once."

At the last message, Angel wanted to get up and leave, but she feared her fathers wrath and her back side still hurt. She stayed in class, but she did not pay any attention to her studies. All of her emotions had built up inside her, she had no way to release them; she felt like she was about to explode.

Lunch time came and everyone sat at their respective tables and ate their lunches. Angel no longer had a table to sit, so she found an empty table and ate by herself.

Duncan and his crew had just got their lunches when they noticed her sitting by herself. Duncan smiled evilly and motioned for his buddies over to Angel's table.

Duncan walked up behind her and poured his milk on top of her head, "Oops! My bad."

"Good one Dunc."

All of the cafeteria was in an uproar with laughter, everyone except for the X-Men, Freddy, and Angel herself.

Slowly Angel rose from her seat and turned around.

"Oh, look, boys. The widdle girl is gonna cry. Ha Ha"

On that note, Angel slowly turned, glaring up at him. Her eyes changed from blue to a deep blood red.

"What the hell?!"

With out a moments warning, Angel through herself at her peer, knocking him over with unnatural strength. The cafeteria gasped in horror, when they saw Duncan Mathews being beaten to a bloody pulp by the small, quiet girl. His friends tried to pull her off, but she just continued hitting Duncan's face over and over again, never letting up once.

"Jean!" Scott yelled in a whisper.

Jean nodded and used her telekinetic powers to pull Angel off of Duncan's body, making it look like Duncan's friends had enough strength to pull her off.

Once Angel was off of him, she started to calm down, and her eyes changed back to their normal color. She saw the eyes of all her peers staring right at her, then she noticed Duncan's body lying on the floor, his face barely recognizable, and then she saw the blood on her fist.

'Oh, crap…'

"Duncan!" his friends threw her to the side to attend to him, "Get him to the nurses office!!!" they picked him up and ran out of the cafeteria.

Angel slipped out the opposite side and into the girls bathroom.

'Not again! This isn't suppose to happen again!!! Daddy's gonna kill me for sure if he finds out that I let it happen again.' she held her head in her hands and began to cry, 'Why is all this happening to me?! I just wanted to have a friend! Why does everything bad happen to me, when I get close to someone?'


	9. Stay Away

-1Chapter 9

Stay Away

Jean, Kitty, and Rogue noticed that Angel had slipped out the back doors of the cafeteria. Kitty looked around and saw that everyone's eyes were all on Duncan and his crew, then she grabbed both Jean and Rogue and phased through the floor. They landed gently in an empty hallway. From there, Jean used her powers to search for Angel.

"She's in the girl's bathroom."

"What do you think made her like freak out like that, Jean? Normally she's all like quiet and stuff."

"I don't know. I've been trying not to pry into her mind."

Rogue sighed, "I think I know. I over heard Toad, Lance, and Pietro talkin' by their lockers about keepin' Angel away from Blob."

"Why would they want to do that?" Jean asked.

"They think she's responsible for puttin' Blob in the hospital, an' they're tryin' to protect him, by driving her away."

"That is so like unfair!"

"Yeah, well, Blob ain't exactly makin' it any better."

"Why? What's he going this time?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but it looks like he's pushin' Angel away. I haven't seen them hang out at all since he got out of the hospital."

"Oh, man!"

The had just reached the girls bathroom and once they opened the door, they heard distinct sounds of sniffling.

"Angel?" Jean called out.

At the sound of Jean's voice, Angel stopped sniffling, and her body froze.

"Angel, it's me Jean. My friends and I just want to help you." they closed the door behind them.

Angel slowly emerged from the stall she had been hiding in and glared at them.

"Whoa! That is like the same death glare that she like gave to Mr. Logan."

'We know what you are, Angel.' said Jean with her telepathic powers, 'And we know that you didn't mean to hurt Duncan inside the cafeteria today. Please! Don't run away! We just want to talk to you. I'm a telepath, so I can set up a link where you can just talk to us with you mind. Alright?'

Angel stared at them suspiciously, but nodded.

'Good.' After Jean set up the link, 'Now all's you have to do is simply think of what you want to say and we will be able to hear it.'

Angel was still filled with rage, but she was also filled with many questions, some she knew that they couldn't answer. 'What do you want with me?'

"We don't want anything." said Kitty, "We just want to help you."

'Help?' she sneered, 'Why should I accept help from those that are friends with Logan?'

The three X-Men looked at one another, then back at her.

"How do ya know about Logan?" asked Rogue.

Angel shifted uncomfortably, 'I can't say…'

"You can't or you won't?" said Jean.

'Just stay away from me, okay? I've got enough on my plate as it is.'

"We just want to help." Jean tried to reach out to touch her, but Angel pulled away, "Please. We can be your friends."

'I'm tired of making friends… Nothing good comes out of them.'

"What happened to make ya think that way?"

She lowered her head, trying to hide her tears, 'Please… Leave me alone.'

"Angel, we just want to-"

She jerked her headed up and her eyes glowed blood red, 'I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!!!' with that she ran past the three girls and out of the bathroom.

Kitty looked to Jean, "Jean?"

"We'll just have to wait for her to come to us on her own. We can't force ourselves on her, otherwise she'll never come to us for help."

Angel burst out from the girls bathroom, running blindly, until she bumped into someone. She looked up to see Freddy. They simply stared at each other, tears swelled in her eyes.

Jean, Rogue, and Kitty came out in time to see the scene before them.

Freddy stared into Angel's tear filled eyes, his heart aching to hold her; he reached out for her, but froze and pulled back.

'Freddy…' she mouthed desperately.

Freddy gritted his teeth and walked passed her. Angel spun around and ran up to him, clutching his massive arm in hers; hugging him.

The girls watched with shock as Freddy gently stroked her hair and briefly embraced her.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, then he gently pulled her off of him and pushed her away, "We can no longer be friends." he noticed the three girls staring at the both of them, "Those girls are nice people, why don't ya hang out with them. They'll never steer ya wrong."

She tried to go after him again, but he simply grabbed her by the shoulders, and slammed her back into the lockers.

They all gasped at Freddy's actions.

Freddy lowered his head, refusing to look at her, "Get some new friends, Angel, and stay the hell away from me!" he ran off.

'Freddy…'

Jean and the girls felt sorrow for the young girl, they tried to approach her, but stopped when her eyes flashed red.

'Stay away!'

They obeyed and watched her walk off. Once she was out of sight, they went after Freddy, and cornered him.

"What the hell's the matter with you Freddy?!" Jean yelled, "Can't you see how much pain that girl is in?!"

"Yeah, that is like the lowest of the low, even for you, Blob!"

"Figures that the first girl that ever shows interest in him in a long time he goes and fucks it up."

"Will you girls just shut up?! God, I knew that you all traveled in packs, but I never imagined that it would be like a pack of hyenas!" he tried to walk away, but Jean held him in place with her powers.

"Oh, no you don't! You're not going anywhere, until we get some answers straightened out."

"What's there to straighten out?! I haven't picked on any of you X-Geeks in ages!"

"It's not about us, Blob." Rogue sneered, "It's about how ya've been treating Angel. Why have ya been avoiding her?"

Freddy sneered, "It's none of your business!"

"Tell us Freddy!" Jean cried, "Or I'll make you tell us!"

"You wouldn't! You can't!"

"What's going on here?!" Principal Kelly's voice rang out through the hall.

"Nothing's going on Principal Kelly." Kitty said.

Principal Kelly scanned all of them, "I highly doubt that. Let's see… You all are late for class… Possibly disrupting other classrooms… And let's add lying to an authority figure to the list. I'd say a weeks wroth of detention would be a suitable enough punishment. Now get to class students or else I might actually have you four suspended. Understood."

"Yes, Principal Kelly." the four students said in unison.

Later that day, Angel walked home. Sabertooth was sitting on the front porch, waiting for her. She stopped half way and stared at him. She feared him, but she loved him. He stood up, when he noticed her stop walking towards him.

'Daddy.' she mouthed, she raced up to him with a burst of energy, and through her arms around his middle.

Taken back by his daughter's actions. He didn't have to be a psychic to realize what was wrong. He smelled Freddy's scent on her and he smelled an all too familiar scent that she gave off when she's enraged. For that moment, he felt no need, no desire to punish her, instead he wrapped his arms around her and comforted her.

"It's alright, Kitten." he crooned, "Daddy's here."

Angel hugged him even tighter, 'Just like mamma said… Daddy may get angry at times, but he still does love me.'


	10. What to Do About Angel

-1Chapter 10

What to Do About Angel

Note: Sorry gang. I made a mistake earlier in my last chapter by saying that Angel's eyes were blue, when in fact that they are amber. I'll try to remember that next time.

Jean and the others went home after school. The three girls were worried about the situation between Angel and Freddy. Their worry did not go unnoticed by the others.

"What's the matter Jean?" Scott asked.

"Huh? Oh… It's nothing really. It's just-"

"What?"

"You know that Angel girl?" Rogue interjected.

"Who?"

"Angel. The girl that pounded pretty boy in the cafeteria today."

"O-kay. What about her?"

Jean sighed, "Freddy's been avoiding Angel."

"Why would he be avoiding her? Don't girls normally avoid him all together?"

"Normally, but this time one actually wants to hang out with him."

Kurt became curious about the conversation, "That's odd. Vhy vould he be avoiding a girl that's interested in him?"

"I don't think she's interested in him that way, Kurt." Jean answered, "Anyways… Something's just not right about the way Freddy's been avoiding her. He tries to push her away, but his body language says otherwise. We saw him today outside the girls bathroom, after we tried to help Angel. He looked as though he wanted to hold her and as though he was about to cry."

Scott scoffed, "Blob crying? That'd be a funny sight to see."

"It ain't funny, Scott!" Rogue yelled, "You should of seen how much pain they were both in. Especially Angel…"

"Sorry… I guess I just don't see Blob as being the sensitive type."

Jean rolled her eyes and stared off into the distance, "Figures, since you really don't pay much attention to anything, unless it involves you."

"Hey! That's not fair, Jean."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm just worried about Angel. I mean, it looked as though she really want to be our friend, but when she saw Logan she quickly changed her mind. You should have seen that look in her eyes when she saw him, Scott. It was if she wanted to kill him, but was being held back like a dog on a leash. Logan doesn't even know who she is. He tried to follow her, but she disappeared like she was covert-ops or something. I wish I could just look into her mind, but I know that the professor disapproves of such methods, and I don't want to do anything to make her not want to trust us."

Scott took in everything that Jean said and thought about it, "Should we tell the Professor and Logan about Angel?"

"Most definitely, especially since she clearly showed signs that she's a mutant."

"Alright."

Meanwhile, at the Brother Hood Boarding House…

Freddy sat, locked in his room, crying. He couldn't hold it in any longer. Since the hospital, he had been holding everything inside; not telling anyone what really happened or how he really felt about Angel.

"Angel." he cried, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!"

There was a knock on his door.

"Yo, Freddy." Toad's voice came from the other side, "You okay?"

"Go away!" Freddy's voice came out more as a cry than he meant it to.

"Freddy! What's wrong?!" Toad tried to opened the door, but it was locked. For a while things went silent and Freddy went back to crying, until he noticed Toad at his bedroom window, "Freddy! Whoa, are you crying, yo?"

"I said go away!!!" Without even thinking, Freddy grabbed a random object and chucked it at Toad.

"GAH!!! Freddy, what the hell's wrong with you?!"

"Toad!" he gasped, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" all the anguish inside conflicted with his urge to control himself, "Please, just go away."

"I'm not gonna go away, Freddy. I know something is wrong an' I wanna help."

"You can't help… Even if you could it wouldn't help much."

"Why? Is this about that bitch Angel?"

Toad's words enraged him, he grabbed Toad by the throat, and slammed him up against the wall. He growled through gritted teeth, "Don't… Don't you EVER say those things about Angel! She's a good person, who'd never hurt anyone!!!"

Toad pulled at Freddy's hands, "If-If that's so… Then why'd she send daddy dearest to put you into a hospital?!"

"She didn't send him!!! Her old man attacked me, because I was trying to stop him from killing her!!!"

Toad's eyes widened, "What?"

Streams of tears flowed down Freddy's cheeks, "H-Her dad tried to kill her or… At least try to seriously hurt her. Her dad is Sabertooth and he beats her, Toad." Freddy let go of Toad, letting him drop to the floor, "When I tried to stop him he got angry and took it out on me."

Toad stood up, rubbing his neck, "Didn't Angel try to stop him?"

"She couldn't… When I looked into her eyes it was as if… As is there was nothing there. I think she went catatonic." he paused for a moment before he began again, "H-He told me that if I didn't stay away from Angel that he would hurt Angel even more. I don't care if he hurts me. I can take a pounding, but Angel… She lives with that bastard and I can't protect her. Pushing her away was the only thing that I could do to protect her, but I don't know for how long…"

"Awe, man!" Toad ran his hands through his hair, "Now I feel bad."

"For what?"

Toad sighed, "Uh… Don't get mad, okay? It's just, well… Pietro told us to pick on her."

"WHAT?!!"

"Freddy. Freddy!" Toad backed away, as Freddy stalked dangerously towards him, "Come on, yo. We were only trying to protect you! Uh-Uh… Did I mention that it was all Pietro's idea? Heh Heh"

"GRRRR!!!" he grabbed Toad by the front of his vest and reared back to hit him, but stopped, "Damn it! I can't hit you. You were only trying to protect me and your too pathetic to beat up anyways." he let him go and walked to the other side of the room, "I want you to do something for me, Toad."

"Anything, Freddy. Just name it!"

"I want you to look after Angel for me. Make sure that nothing bad happens to her at school and make sure that Pietro and Lance don't pick on her anymore. I can't be around her without putting her life in jeopardy. Sabertooth will smell my scent on her and he'll get angry and just take it out on her."

"Freddy…"

He clenched his fist and lowered his head, "Angel needs a friend, Toad… She has no one."

"Can't you just take her away from Sabertooth? I mean, the guy's a wanted criminal and all-"

"He's too smart to get caught. Mystique told me about him and everything he does to make sure that he doesn't get caught. Besides… Angel loves her dad. If I took her away from him, she'd just hate me… I couldn't bare it if she hated me."

"How do you think she feels about you now?! You've been pushing her away so much that she's beginning to grow cold inside!" Toad walked up to his friend and forced him to look into his eyes, "You say you care about her and you're trying to protect her, but all's you're doing is feeding her more to the fire! Avoiding her ain't protecting her, Freddy, it's tearing her apart. You saw what she did to Duncan in the cafeteria today. You're my best friend Freddy… An' I know now how much she means to ya. Since she came along, I ain't ever seen you smile so much since you came to the Brother Hood. She's the best thing that ever happened to ya, yo."

For a while Freddy was silent, then he pushed Toad away, "Promise me you'll look after her and be her friend…"

Toad looked at him with disgust, "Everyone always said that you were all bronze and no brains and you wouldn't even know that the sky was falling even if it fell right on your head. I always defended you, Freddy! No matter how much they picked on me or beat me up, I always defended you, because you always defended me. You were the one person that I looked up to the most, because you never let anything bad happen to any of your friends. But now… Now I don't know what to think."

"You just don't understand!"

"Oh, yeah, I don't understand anything! I'm just a little toad after all." Toad walked to the door, unlocked it, and opened it, "Don't worry, I'll look after her, but I'm not gonna pick up any of the pieces that you've left behind. I'll let you do that on your own." with that Toad left the room, leaving Freddy to think.

'Is Toad right? Is avoiding Angel all together making things worse instead of helping? Angel… Is your father keeping his word about not hurting you or did he say that so that I'd stop being your friend?"


	11. Teach Me

-1Chapter 11

Teach Me

For the next few days Toad tried his best to apologize and befriend Angel. When he first tried, she shied away, but when he tried a second time she merely stared at him with curiosity. He felt weird trying to communicate with her and started looking for an easier away. He really wished that Freddy would grow some balls and talk to Angel himself, instead of hiding every time he saw her.

It wasn't until about the end of the week when something in a store caught his eye. He wasn't able to buy it and he couldn't steal it, because most bookstores hide a metal strip inside every book that would set off an alarm if someone tried to walk out of the store with any of their books. As a last resort Toad went to the school library and checked out any books that were related to it.

On Monday morning he attempted to approach Angel again.

"Hey, Angel, are you in a talking mood today or do I still get the silent treatment?" he chuckled nervously. Angel didn't seem to care for the joke and started to walk away, "Wait! Please, come back. I'm sorry!" she stopped and turned back to face him, "Look. I know what I did to ya after Freddy's accident and I realize now that I was wrong. I was kinda hopin' that you an' me can be friends?" he looked at her hopefully, but she eyed him suspiciously. She noticed that she was hiding something behind his back and pointed at it. "Huh? Oh, these?" Toad brought them out for her to see, "I checked them out Friday after school got out. I was gonna show ya these, but you had already left with your old man. They're sign language books. I know that writing on pieces of paper to talk all the time must be a pain and I thought that this might be a fun new way to communicate." he smiled when he saw that she was greatly interested, "If you want, you and I can learn sign language together. You can communicate with me and I can communicate back when I don't feel like talking verbally. It'll be like our own little code. It'll be fun. What do ya say?" Angel thought for a long moment, so long that Toad thought she was going to reject him again, but when she nodded her head and smiled he heaved a great sigh of relief, "Great. When would you like to get together to do this?"

She pulled out her notepad and pen and wrote, 'After school, but only for 30 minutes, okay?'

"Okay!" he gave her a thumbs up and tucked the books under his arm, "I'll see ya at 3 inside the library. Later."

As Angel waited for 3 p.m. to come around, she wondered why Toad wanted to be her friend all of the sudden. When she and Freddy hung out Toad didn't seem to want to be around them, he seemed almost jealous, and the fact that he and the rest of Freddy's friends picked on her didn't help the situation. But Angel was extremely lonely and Toad was the closest thing to a Freddy replacement as she could find.

She sighed heavily, 'Well, at least I'll be learning to talk with my hands instead of writing everything down all the damn time. I was beginning to think that I would have arthritis early in my life with all the notes I wrote to Freddy.' she froze when she thought of his name, 'Freddy… I don't know why you keep pushing me away. I really don't. Part of me is screaming, telling me I should hate you and have nothing to do with you ever again, but… There's even a louder part of me that's screaming for you to come back. To come back and save me… Save me?' she blinked at her last thoughts, 'Why the hell would I want to be saved? I've got a roof over my head, food, a dad that loves me… At least I think he does.' she shook her head furiously, 'Stop that, Angel! You know damn well that daddy loves you, you've just been… Bad is all. All of those punishments were necessary, daddy knows best. Doesn't he?'

The last bell of the day suddenly rang and Angel gathered the rest of her belongings, and headed straight for the library.

Toad was already waiting for her and had the books in his hand.

"Hey, you really did decide to show." he smiled, "I was beginning to think that I was gonna have to follow you around again. Heh Heh That was a joke by the way." when he saw Angel smile he felt relief, "Well, you're not gonna hear me say this too often, but… You wanna go hit the books?"

On the first day Toad and Angel learned hand gestures for the alphabet, they tried commutating by simply spelling out words, but eventually got confused when they ran the all their words together. Slowly they progressed and learned to make symbols and representations of certain words to make things easier. They also learned to read each others lips while they talked with their hands.

Everyday at 3:30 Angel's father picked her up from school. Toad's scent had not gone unnoticed and he demanded to know why Angel always had his scent around her.

She wrote something down and handed it to him.

'He's my study partner for one of my classes. He's also helping me to learn sign language, so that it will be easier to participate in class.'

Sabertooth frowned at the note, "Is that all?" she nodded her head. "Grrr I'll allow it, but only this time. If I find out that yer lyin' to me I'll beat yer hide to next Sundy."

A month had passed and Angel and Toad had become pretty good friends, but she wouldn't allow herself to get too close to him for fear that it'll become another Freddy situation. Toad tried not to get too close himself for fear that he might develop strong feelings for her and betray his long time friend. Unbeknownst to them Freddy had been keeping an eye on them, in a way he was glad that Toad had become good friends with Angel, but their he had become somewhat jealous.

Toad had noticed the change in Freddy's behavior and got a little frustrated when Freddy started taking a his anger out on him.

"Freddy. We need to talk."

"What about?"

"About you and your attitude towards me lately."

"What are ya talkin' about, Toad?"

"Don't play dumb, Freddy, you're already there. I'm talkin' about how you practically beg me to be friends with Angel and start getting all jealous and shit because it's me hangin' out with her instead of you."

"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Freddy tried to walk away, but Toad wasn't going to let him go so easily.

"Bull shit!" Toad hopped in front of him and started shoving him, "I'm your friend, Freddy, and I'm willing to walk a mile for ya. But it's startin' to get a little hard to be your friend when ya start takin' your anger out on me and actin' like a jerk!"

"I ain't actin' like a-"

"Shut up, Freddy! I'm talkin' right now." Toad took in deep breath, trying to calm himself down, but couldn't. He pulled out a book from his back pack and shoved it in Freddy's hands, "Here! Read this."

Freddy looked down at the book with confusion, "What the hell am I suppose to do with this?"

"You'll figure it out once you've read it." Toad walked away.

Freddy read the title, "Sign Language for Dummies."

His eyes widened, "What the hell?! TOAD!!!"

"I ain't talkin' to ya, until you grow some balls and talk to Angel yourself!!!"

"But-"

Toad covered his ears and continued to walk down the hall, "La La La La I'm not talkin' to you!"

Freddy sighed and looked at the book. "Damn it!" he took the book back to his room and began to read it. "How the hell am I suppose to learn all of this?"

"Boy, I'm sure glad ANGEL helped me to learn sign language." said Toad in a muffled voice behind Freddy's door, "She sure made learning that stuff fun."

"Aw, come on!" he groaned, but he knew what had to be done.

The next morning before school, Freddy went to go look for Angel. He found her sitting at one of the outside picnic tables with Toad. Toad saw him out of the corner of his eye and smiled to himself.

Toad stood up and pretended to stretch, "Well, I'm gonna go to the little boy's room. If I'm not out by the time of the class bell, then go on ahead with out me. Okay?"

'Okay.' she signed to him and watched him walk way and then spotted Freddy. Surprised to see that he was actually walking up to her instead of away.

"Uh…" he looked down at his feet, holding the book in his hands, "Angel… W-Will you teach me this?"

She looked at the book and then at him, she started to sign, but remembered that he didn't know sign language, so she brought out her note pad and pen.

'Why the sudden change of heart?'

Freddy didn't know what to say, all he could do was stare at his feet.

Angel studied his body language and wrote another note.

'I will teach you. If you like, I will take the entire school day off to teach you sign language.'

For a while he was silent, then he looked into her eyes, "Yeah… I'd like that."


	12. The Tragedy Begins

-1Chapter 12

The Tragedy Begins

For the next few weeks Angel taught Freddy sign language. Freddy made sure that Angel went to all her classes, even though she didn't want to go, so that she wouldn't get in trouble with the school or her dad. During those few weeks Freddy realized how much he really missed her company. He picked up on the basics of sign language surprisingly fast and could soon sign in full sentences.

Prom was coming up and everyone was excited. Even Toad was excited, because a girl asked him to be her date. The only ones who weren't excited were Freddy and Angel.

Freddy, Angel, and Toad sat in the cafeteria practicing their sign language while they ate. Some of the students gossiped and frowned upon their new method of speaking, because they weren't sure whether or not they were just communicating or possibly gossiping about them.

Duncan and his crew were tempted to knock the shit out of them, but when they saw Angel they decided against it.

"Woo Hoo! I've got a d-ate! I've got a d-ate! I've got a d-ate!"

"Toad, it was great the first time you told us, it was also great the second time you told us. But now I must say er sign something for your own good. SHUT UP BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS!!!"

"He's just excited, Freddy. Give him a break." defended Angel, "It's not everyday that a girl likes Todd."

Toad smiled smugly, "Thanks, Angel." puts his arm around her, "See, at least somebody understands."

"You're getting good, Todd. You can sign with one hand now."

"Yep, it takes talent to be as good a signer as you an' me. Well, mainly me."

"Okay, now it's time for me to tell you to shut up."

"Ya'll just haters today." he folded his arms and pouted, "Hey, have you two got dates for the prom yet?"

"No." they both signed in unison.

"What girl in their right mind would want to be my date?"

"I'm not pretty enough to go to the prom."

Both Freddy and Toad looked at her with surprised looks.

"What makes you think that?" Freddy asked.

"Yeah, I didn't have a date already I would've asked you." Freddy punched Toad in the shoulder, "OW!!! What was that for?!" he yelled instead of signed.

"What? You can't sign that, perfect signer?"

"Be nice, Freddy."

"Okay, okay. So, Angel. How come you think you're not pretty enough to go to the prom?"

Angel shifted uncomfortably, "I'm just not. None of the guys here like me, because I can't talk, and… I don't have the body for it."

Just then Toad got an idea, "Hey, why don't you two go together? Freddy! Don't you hit me again!" Toad moved closer to Angel, "Think about it you two. Freddy, you like Angel even though she can't talk."

Both Freddy and Angel blushed.

"Even if Freddy asked me to prom… I'm still not pretty enough to go."

Toad and Freddy both sighed. Even though Angel didn't think she was pretty, they thought that she was very pretty. Freddy suddenly got an idea himself.

"Why don't you ask Jean, Kitty, and Rogue to give you a make over and take you dress shopping?"

Angel's eyes grew dark, "I want nothing to do with them."

"Why not?"

"I want nothing to do with anyone who are friends of Logan." she clenched her fists and stared into an abyss that neither Toad nor Freddy could see.

"Angel?" Freddy gently shook her shoulder, "Angel!"

She snapped out of her state and blushed, "Sorry… I must of zoned out or something."

"How do you know Logan?"

"Do you know him?"

"We're not friends with him if that's what you're asking."

She sighed with relief, "Good. I wouldn't want our friendship to come to an end because of that bastard. I don't know him personally. I just know that my father hates him and that's why he's always angry. I hate anyone who hurts my daddy and causes him pain. And if I ever get my chance… I will make Logan pay!"

For the rest of the lunch period they were sat silently and ate their food. When the bell rang for them to go to class, Toad decided to ask Angel another question pertaining to prom.

"Angel? I know you don't want to go dress shopping with Jean and them, but… How would you like to go dress shopping with Freddy an' me?"

"You two?"

"Yeah. Just think of it this way, you're with friends whom you trust, and we'd never lie to ya."

"What about my dad? He'd never… Oh, I don't know."

Freddy put his arm around Angel's shoulders, "If you can't we understand. I'd rather you not get into anymore trouble because of us."

"Thanks, Freddy." she leaned into him and sighed, "Freddy?"

"Yeah?"

"After school, I wanna talk to ya in private. Okay?"

"Okay."

3 p.m. came around quickly and Angel and Freddy went to their secret hiding place. Freddy sat on one of the tables watching Angel pace back an forth.

"Angel? Freddy" they both tried to sign at the same time. "Sorry."

"Uh… I'm just gonna talk because my hands are tire. Heh Heh Well, um… Before you say anything, I just want to give ya something." he reached inside the front of his bib over halls and pulled out a pink looking book "Here. It's a diary. I thought that you might want to something to write in when your upset, so that you don't blow up like you did a few weeks back when he pounded the shit outta Duncan."

"Don't remind me…"

"Sorry. So what did you want to talk about anyways?"

"Well…" she sat down next to him, "Freddy, have you ever had feelings for anyone before? Someone close to you?"

"Yeah, it was Jean, but that's before I found out that she was a stuck up bitch. Why do ya ask?"

Angel blushed, biting her lower lip; she held her hands up to sign, but froze. Then without warning she gave Freddy a kiss on the lips.

Shocked by the sudden action, he jumped away, "What are you doing?!" he didn't mean for it to come out that way.

Angel's face flushed bright red, "I like you, Freddy, more than just a friend."

Freddy's heart fluttered, but he was nervous. "Angel. We can only be friends. I like you an' all, but… This can't happen."

"I see." Angel clutched the diary that he gave her and backed away, "Well, I better go. My dad's probably waiting for me. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye, Angel." he watched Angel leave, until she was gone. He sat by himself for a while, until he got hungry, and walked out the building.

Toad saw him walking by himself, "Yo, Freddy! Wait up." he popped up to Freddy and joined him, "Why the long face, pal?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. Just thinking how much of an idiot I am."

"Uh-oh. What happened? Did you upset Angel again?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Don't tell me that you're doin' the stay away from Angel stick again?"

"Nope."

"Then what happened?"

"Angel… Kissed me."

"What?! Hold the phone! Angel, kissed you? Our Angel?"

"Yep."

"And… She's mad at you why?"

"Because I freaked out and told her that we can only be friends, when I actually really do want to be more than just friends."

"What?! Why'd you turn her down then?!"

"Because I didn't want her dad to hurt her even worse than he is now. You know that he's got a heightened sense of smell. If he smells my scent on her and I mean on her, then he'll go ape shit and bit her to a bloody pulp. I can't let that happen, even if it mean sacrificing a chance for happiness with her."

"What about her happiness? I mean, she lives in hell everyday and lives practically with the devil himself. Do yourselves both a favor, take her away from there, and be happy with one another."

"Well, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"From the way you were talkin' at lunch today it sounded like you have feelings for Angel too."

"Naw, I only like her as a friend. Besides, it's obvious that you two like each other. You definitely." he rubs his shoulder that Freddy had hit earlier at lunch.

Freddy sighed, "Sorry, about hitting you earlier. I guess I just got a little jealous."

"A little is an understatement." Toad sat quietly for a moment, "So, you gonna wait till it's practically too late again or are you going to grow some balls and be her night in shining armor and sweep her off or feet?"

"I don't even know where she lives."

"We can break into Principal Kelly's office and sneak a peak at her file. It should have her home address on it, then we can google earth map it to find her."

"If you can break in, I can try and distract Principal Kelly, until you get it."

"We won't go right now, we'll wait until night time, less chances of us gettin' caught. Then we can go get Angel after words without her father even knowin' it."

Meanwhile, back at the house of Angel and Sabertooth, Angel was sitting at the dinner table writing in the diary that Freddy had given her:

April 30

Dear Diary,

I really don't know what to write in these kind of things, but I guess I should give it a try before I turn it away.

Freddy gave me you, so that I'd have someone to vent to.

Well, right now, I really need someone to vent to.

Daddy doesn't like me hanging around Freddy. He says that Freddy is bad and hanging around him makes me bad.

I love my daddy. I don't ever want to hurt him.

But I am torn…

I've been very bad.

I've been hanging out with Freddy and Toad secretly. We have been learning sign language, which was the truth that I told him, but it was only with Toad. Freddy wasn't originally going to be part of my life again since he shut me out for no reason, but he has opened up to me again, and we've become close.

I've become close to him.

I think that I've fallen in love with him.

Today after school I revealed my feelings for him and kissed him, it felt so right, but I guess he didn't feel the same way. He pushed me away and told me that we can only be friends.

Like I said, I am torn.

Why can't he love me?

I know I'm not pretty, but

Just then her diary got yanked away. She looked up to see her father reading what she had just wrote. Fear over came her when she saw him throw her book down and crack his knuckles.

"So… You've been lyin' to me and seein' that boy behind my back." his voice was a icy cold, and strangely calm. Angel stumbled out of her chair and tried to back away, "Don't you back away from me, girl!" she froze, "Now you've been a very bad girl, Angel, and I think that just a simple spanking just won't do." he moved closer to her, grabbed her by the upper part of her arm and yanked her up, their noses practically touching, "Let me show you what happens to people to lies to your dear ol' daddy."

With all of his strength he slammed her onto the table and flung her across the room. Blood sprayed out of her mouth as he punched her in her gut. He threw her to the floor, kicking her over and over again, until he kicked her across the room and into the living room. She rolled over, holding her sides; coughing. Looking up she saw the man that she loved so dearly stalk dangerously towards her and kneel down next to her.

"You're no daughter of mine! You lied to me you little bitch!" he punched her face and watched her squirm in pain, "You know I only punish you, because I love you. I feel no satisfaction in hurting you. You make me do this!" he flipped her on her back and got down in her face, "You think you know what love is, frail? You know nothing!" to her surprise he ripped off her pants and under ware, and undid his. Forcing her legs apart, he plunged his man hood into her. Her face contorted in pain, if she could scream she would, she tried desperately to force him off of her. But he continued to force himself upon her, thrusting in and out, repeatedly, until he finally pulled out. He still had an erection, but he hadn't come, he wouldn't, not in her. He got up and put away his member, "It's because him that I do this." he said to no one in particular, "It's his fault that I lost her… That bastard. I hate him! I hate that bastard Logan!"

Angel had curled up into a tight ball, sobbing, crying out in her mind to a man that wasn't there, "DAMN YOU LOGAN!!! IT'S YOUR FAULT!!! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!! WHEN I GET MY CHANCE… I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU FOR MAKING MY DADDY THE WAY HE IS! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU!"

Sabertooth paced back and forth mumbling only to himself, when he looked down at Angel, he growled angrily and took his punishment even further. He grabbed her by her shirt and flung her to the stairs, her shirt ripped; revealing all of her scars front and back from all of his punishments. She did not move. Without a second thought he slashed his claws across her belly and chest. He picked her up again and slammed her back down, the sound of her ribs and back cracking echoed throughout the room. She was on the verge of death, but he would not let up. He was in so much rage…

Suddenly her eyes flashed red and without anymore hesitation she began to fight back as though her life depended on it. She was surprisingly stronger than him, using her strength to throw him off; she began punching him like she did Duncan. The attacks came so fast, that he had no time to block them. All of her wounds began to heal just as quick as they were dealt, and once they were all healed her attacks ceased and she passed out on top him.

Once his wounds were healed he tossed her off of him and got back up. Fear started to over whelm him, but he kept his cool.

"Her powers… They haven't fully awakened, but they are provoked when she is near death. She's dangerous, more dangerous than me. Why do I let that brat live? Why don't I just kill her where she lays. She looks so much like her mother, I should love her, but I hate her too much. It's her fault that her mother is dead. It should have been her that died, not my love!" he stormed out of the house and left town that very night.

Not too long after he left Freddy and Toad arrived. They found the door open and became worried. Rushing in without hesitation. To their horror they found Angel lying half naked on the floor, covered in blood, but she had no wounds… Just scars.

Freddy rushed to her side, cradling her in her arms she tried to wake her, "Angel! Angel! Wake up! Please, wake up!?!"

Toad rushed to the kitchen to get a wet paper towel, but came back holding her diary, "Freddy… I think her old man read this." he handed Freddy the diary, letting him read the first and only page that she had written.

"My God!" he dropped the diary and held Angel tightly in his arm, crying, "It's my fault! It's all my fault! Damn it! Why did that bastard have to be her father?! Why does he do this her?! She's his own flesh and blood! Damn him, damn that fucking bastard!!! I'll kill him! I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do!!!"

"Freddy." Toad put his hand on Freddy's shoulder, "Come on, let's get her out of here, before that bastard comes back."

"Okay…" he stood up , still cradling her in his arms, "Give me something to wrap her up in."

Toad gave him a nearby blanket and watched his friend wrap Angel's limp body, "What are we gonna do? She needs to see a doctor."

"We can't take her to a hospital, Sabertooth will still get a hold of her whether they let him or not."

"Then what do we do, Freddy?"

"We have no choice. We're gonna have to take her to the X-Men. That blue guy… Uh Beast. He's a doctor."

"He was our biology professor."

"He knows science and he knows the body. He's our only hope."

"Okay, Freddy. Let's go."

They left the house and headed straight to the X-Mansion.


	13. Rage Blinds the Eye

-1Rage Blinds the Eye

Chapter 13

The Professor and Logan were standing outside in front of the mansion, looking beyond the grounds, and admiring the stars.

"Sure is a nice night out, Chuck."

"Yes, Logan, it certainly is." just then a worried expression came over Xavier's face, "Someone is coming."

"Who, Charles?"

"It's… Blob and Toad."

"What?!" Logan sniffed the air, "I smell em', Charles, an' they got someone with them, someone that's female and bleeding."

Just then the front gates of the institute opened, Toad and Blob came running up to the two older men; Blob was still holding on Angel's limp body.

"My God!" Charles gasped, "What happened?! Did you two-"

"It wasn't us, yo!" Toad defended, "It was…" he paused and looked at his young friend, "It was her father. Sabertooth."

Logan snarled, "Sabertooth?!" the sound of his arch enemies name nearly sent him in feral mode. "That bastard did this to his own flesh and blood?!"

Freddy clutched Angel's body protectively to his own, "Please… Help her? We can't take her to a real hospital, he'll just come after her, and hurt her some more." he fought so hard to hold back his tears, but only one escaped which made Xavier see that he was more than sincere.

"Follow me, Freddy." he turned and headed inside the mansion, contacting Hank with his mind, "Hank, prep the medical lab. We have a seriously injured girl coming in. Tell the others that Toad and Blob are guests and are not to harmed."

"Will do, Professor Xavier."

Beast did as the Professor commanded and so did the students. None of them tried to start a fight or insult them while they remained in the mansion. Freddy laid Angel's body on one of the medical beds, he would have stayed by her side, but Hank told him that he had to leave, so that he could change her and examine he closely. Toad tried his best to console his best friend as they waited. Logan wanted so much to go after Sabertooth and kill him for what he'd done, but Xavier ordered him not to go anywhere, and just to make sure that he didn't, he ordered Storm and the rest of the students to keep him from leaving the school grounds.

Jean, Kitty, and Rogue brought Freddy and Toad some food and something to drink, but neither of them were very hungry.

"You need to eat, guys." Kitty coxed, "Worrying on an empty stomach is not going to like help Angel get any better."

"Shut up." Freddy said darkly.

"Excuse me?!"

"Quit trying to pretend that you really care! Once Angel gets better and we leave, we'll all go back to our same routine of hating and fighting each other like nothing happened. So save you sympathy for someone who really cares."

The girls were shocked, even Toad was surprised at his friend's behavior, "Freddy, calm down, yo. They're not the enemy right now. Sabertooth is."

Freddy closed his eyes and sighed deeply, "Sorry. I just-I just want to be alone right now. Okay?"

"Okay, buddy."

Hank came out of the medical room, holding a chart in his hands, "Boys, I'd like to ask you some questions pertaining to Angel."

"Okay." said in unison, both getting up and following him into the medical room. "Have a seat over here." he indicated to a couple of chairs right next to a medical desk, "Alright. Now I want you two to tell me everything. Starting from when you suspected that she was being abused to when you found her."

About an hour went by when the boys finally finished telling Hank everything that he needed to know. He walked them out and told them to meet up with Storm, who would lead them to some spare rooms. After they went to sleep, Hank went to visit the rest of the X-Men who were waiting in the war room; waiting for the newest news.

"Well, Hank, how is she?" asked Xavier.

"She's going to be alright, it would seem that she has a healing factor much like her fathers, only stronger. Though it may heal all of her physical wounds, mentally though… I'm afraid it will do no good."

Out of rage Logan punched the table, "Damn it, Charles! Let me go after him!"

"No, Logan. We can risk Sabertooth knowing that she is here."

"That's right, Logan." agreed Hank, "Freddy and Toad both told me that Sabertooth doesn't know that she's here. They believe that this would be the last place that he would look, because she doesn't like anybody in this mansion."

"Wait! What?" Jean was confused, "I thought she liked us? When we took her prom shopping-"

"That was before she found out that you girls' knew Logan."

Everyone turned to look at Logan.

Scott arched his brow, "So, she hates anyone who's associated with Logan?"

"Precisely. As to why, I believe Sabertooth, for lack of a better term, literally beat it into her skull not to like Logan."

"Man! Zat is so veak! Vhy vould he do that to his own daughter?"

"I don't know, Kurt. None of us will know, until she wakes up."

"What makes you think that she'll talk to us anyways?" said Rogue, "Since she hates us an' all."

"She won't be talking to any of us." everyone looked at him with confusion, except Logan and Xavier, "Toad and Freddy will be the only ones that she sees and we will be watching from one of the security cameras installed in the room. I told them not to let her know where she is at, until all of our questions are answered."

"So… Toad and Freddy are still our honored guests zen?"

"Yes, and they both agreed not to attack us again as long as we help Angel and not hand her over to either Sabertooth or the authorities."

Scott smirked sarcastically, "How do you know that they'll keep their promise?"

"Call it a hunch if you will. As long as Angel remains her, peace between them and us is long standing."

Three days had past and Angel still had not awoke from her coma like state. Freddy stayed by her side whenever he could, holding her hand, talking to her, and a lot of the times falling asleep in a chair next to the bed. Toad came in every now and then to check up on them, he was restless and could sit for very long, and thought that Freddy deserved every moment alone with Angel.

Xavier kept security on high alert in case Sabertooth found out Angel's whereabouts and he was sure to keep Logan in check.

Two more days past and Angel finally woke up. She almost panicked, but when she saw Freddy sleeping with his head down on the bed next to her, holding her hand; she relaxed. Still feeling weak and not wanting to wake him up, she simply laid there and watched him. How she longed to hold him and be in his arms even though he rejected her. Her feeling for him were so strong, but she wouldn't force herself on him if he didn't want it. She caressed the back of his hand with her thumb, savoring the warmth of his flesh.

The change in movement woke him up, rubbing his eyes he looked up, and smiled with great relief to see that the girl he deeply cared for was awake.

"Angel!" his voice of horse.

"Hi, Freddy." she signed, "Where am I? What happened?"

Freddy scooted his chair closer to her, "You're in a safe place, Angel. Your dad won't hurt ya anymore."

"Hurt me?" she was confused, "I don't understand."

Freddy was shocked, but then he thought that maybe she went catatonic again, "What was the last thing that you remember that happened between you and your old man?"

Her face went pale, she didn't like the question, but she couldn't hide anything from her friend, "Daddy found out that you and me were hanging out again… He read it in my diary. He got mad and so he punished me for it."

He held his breath, trying to stay calm, "What exactly did he do to ya?"

"Nothing more than she normally does. Except-" her hands froze in mid-air, tears swelled in her eyes, and she turned away from Freddy.

"Angel. Angel." he reached over and faced her body back towards him. Deep down inside he knew the answer to his question, but he had to make sure, "Angel. What did he do that was different?"

She hesitated, she didn't want to tell him, so she simply signed, "He did nothing. I was bad, so he punished me. I deserved it."

By now Freddy could no longer hold in his anger, "Cut the bull shit, Angel!" his loud outburst had took her by surprise, "I wanted to give ya a chance to tell me, to be honest with me, but all's you seem to be doing is giving excuses for that bastard you call a father."

Angered by his words, she sat up, and signed furiously, "Don't you dare insult my father! He loves me and cares for me-"

"Is raping your own flesh and blood and beating them to a bloody pulp what you call love?!"

"You know nothing! Nothing at all!"

"Yeah, that's because you won't tell me anything! You've always been straight forward and honest with me, Angel, except whenever it comes to questions about your father. Don't you know that what he does to you is wrong?! Don't you understand?! He doesn't care about you! He doesn't love you!" By now Angel is shaking her head furiously and covering her ears, trying to block out Freddy's words. Frustrated he grabbed her hands from her ears and made her look into his eyes, "I care about you Angel. I wouldn't lie to you about something as serious as this. Why won't you believe me?"

Tears streamed down her cheeks, she couldn't control her emotions anymore. Her world was being torn apart, all because her friend, the boy she loved, was trying to help her. She pulled her hands out of his and signed again.

"He's a good man. He's just angry because that bastard Logan has hurt him. Logan made him the way he is today. My daddy still loves me. All of the punishments-All of the pun…" she couldn't continue, her memories of the night Sabertooth had used rape as a punishment made her shake uncontrollably. Freddy pulled her into a protective hug, struggling to hold his own tears back. She wanted to hate Freddy at that moment, she wanted to hit him, but she couldn't do either of those things. Much like her father, she loved him too much to hold a grudge.

Freddy held her, until she stopped shaking, then he tried again, "Angel… How long as this been going on? How long has he been beating you?" Angel started to raise her hands to answer, but then she froze, and to Freddy's horror her eyes glowed red and rage took over. "Angel, now calm down. Angel!" she had caught Logan's scent in the air and without a second thought struck out at Freddy and bolted in the direction of her father's arch enemies scent.

Angel raced through the halls, knocking over anyone who got in her way. She was in a blind rage and it didn't matter whether it was friend or foe, she was going to strike out at them if they got in her way. Logan's scent became stronger, her speed tripled than a normal human being, and she found him in the kitchen. She busted down the kitchen door, startling him.

"Whoa! I see that you're up. Nice to-" before he could get his words out, Angel had launched herself at him, claws extended from her finger tips, and she slashed at him, "GAH!!!" she got him right in his ribs and was preparing for another attack, but he threw her across the room, "What the hell is the matter with you, kid?!"

As she flew, she bounced herself off of the wall and landed with amazing grace on a small table in front of him. Her hair went from dirty blonde to jet black, fangs appeared in her mouth that went as far as her chin, and two triangle like markings appeared below her eyes.

"Logan!" for the first time in a long time, words came out of her mouth, "TIME TO DIE!!!" she went to attack him again, but was stopped in mid-air by Jean's telekinesis.

"Angel, stop! He's not your enemy."

"You, bitch!" she spun around in her bubble threw her hands forward and released a powerful fire blast from her hands. Jean all concentration and froze in horror as she watched the fire fly straight at her. Logan pushed her out of the way in time, taking the full blast to his mid-section. The damage was so bad the his healing factor was having a hard time kicking in.

Jean tried again to fend off Angel, but it only made her angrier. In Jeans eyes she saw Angel standing on the table one moment, then appear in front of her the next. Angel struck out at her, sending her through the kitchen wall and into the other room. Looking down at Logan, who was still withering in pain, she slowly walked up to him. Thrusting her claws deep inside Logan's shoulder and digging deep into his skin, she lifted him partly up off of the ground, and began spinning them both around, until she finally released him and sent him crashing through many of the walls of the mansion, crash landed outside of the mansion house.

Toad, Freddy, and the rest of the X-Men rushed to get in between Angel and her prey.

"Get out of my way." she said in a dark, husky voice.

"She talked?!" both Freddy and Toad were surprised.

Xavier rolled forward, "I'm sorry, Angel. We cannot do that."

"Then… DIE!!!" throwing her hands forward releasing another powerful fire blast.

Hank grabbed Xavier and everyone jumped out of the way.

Angel walked slowly towards the many holes she had made, Freddy got back up and stood in her way, but that didn't stop her. She kept on walking. Freddy knew what it was like to be in rage and he hated seeing Angel in a rage that was worse than his own.

"Angel." he tried to call her out, but she wouldn't come, he braced himself, knowing that this would be a fight soon.

Angel extended her claws again and stalked dangerously towards him. She was within striking distance and hand her claws raised, when suddenly she grabbed her head, and let out a pain curdling roar. She stumbled backwards, dropping to one knee, looking up she saw Xavier staring at her, holding his hands to his head. She growled, stubbornly she forced herself up, and stumbled towards him. The others were about to attack, but Xavier told them to back down. As Angel stumbled towards him, still holding her head, she began to transform a little. Black fur appeared on her, she dropped down to all fours, her arms and legs contorting to that of an animal, and her body grew bigger. She was nearly fully transformed when she reached Xavier's wheel chair. Sweat was dripping down the sides of his head as he watched her massive claws reach for her face and then drop in an instant as she collapsed at his feet and reverted back to her human form.

"It's all Logan's fault…" was the last thing that escaped her lips.


	14. Reaching Into the Depths

-1Chapter 14

Reaching Into the Depths

The X-Men rushed Angel back down to the med lab, along with Jean, and Logan.

"What happened?!" Hank demanded.

"I don't know!" Freddy was panicky, "I was just talking to her and then all of the sudden her eyes went red and she bolted."

"Yo!" Toad hopped up holding the I.V. needles that Hank needed, "Here ya go, blue. Man, I knew that she hated Logan, but I didn't think it would be this serious."

Everyone stared at Xavier, who sighed, "Normally I wouldn't pry into others minds, but under the present circumstances… It looks like we may have no choice."

Xavier wheeled his chair around to the head of the bed, placing his hands upon Angel's temples, and focusing his mind to be in sync with hers. What he saw nearly over whelmed him. Everything was torn up and scattered.

"She must still be in a feral state of mind." he focused his powers to help her pull herself back together. Everything became more organized and more easy to access. "Now, the question is where to start." he looked around and saw a floating heart shaped pendent in the air. He reached out and touched it. A bright flash of red light blinded him for a moment and there he saw a happy little scene Sabertooth, a much older and taller woman who looked like Angel, and a small 3 year old little girl: all having a picnic. "This must be one of Angel's earliest memories." he sat and watched.

"We're very lucky to have her, you know that, Victor." said the woman.

"Yeah… I guess we are."

"Victor? Are you still-"

"Keela. Now's not the time to bring up bad memories. We're here to have a good time and relax."

"Mommy! Daddy! Lookie!" they both turn to see their daughter playing with a bunch of ants. "Hee Hee They tickles."

"Oh, Angel!" Keela gets up and races to her daughters aid, vigorously brushing the insects off. "You know better than that."

"Hmph Let her go, Keela. The kid needs to learn the hard way if she's gonna learn anything at all."

Keela gives him a dirty look, "How can you sit there and say that, Victor? She's just a baby."

"Yeah, and babies get big and grow up. You baby her to much, Keela."

"Why do you hate her, so much?"

"I don't hate her."

"Then why do you act so coldly to her?"

"You know why."

"Can't you just look past that and love her? If not for her at least for me?"

He stares at her for a long while before speaking again, "For you, Keela… I'd do anything. I'd give up my soul just to make sure you got to Heaven."

Keela laughs and carries Angel over towards him, "Give daddy a great big hug, Angel! Because your daddy is the greatest man alive and he'll always love you. Isn't that right, Victor?" she leans down and kisses him on the lips.

He smiles, "Yeah." ruffles up Angels hair, "Yeah, Daddy loves ya, kiddo."

The memory fades out.

Xavier was confused, "That was… Intriguing. But still… There are many questions left unanswered." he looks around and sees a floating heart the color of black, "What secrets do you hold I wonder?"

He touches it and a scene of a 5 year old Angel peaking through the crack of her parents bed room door. Xavier opens the door and sees a sickly Keela laying in bed holding Sabertooth's hand.

"Drink some water, Keela." coaxed Victor, trying to slowly pour water into her mouth.

She coughed and sputtered, unable to keep anything down, "Victor… I'm sorry. I can't."

"Shh don't speak. Just rest. You'll be better in a couple of hours, that's how it always has worked."

She sighed miserably, "Not this time, Victor… I'm afraid that I won't heal. I gave up my powers the day that our baby girl was born to save her life. I am merely moral now."

"Damn it, Keela! Why'd you have to do that?! Why couldn't ya just let her go?! We could have had one of our own!"

Keela began coughing violently, until Victor sat her up, "Victor… No matter how hard we'd of tried… Angel would have always been my first and last child. I waited too long to have a baby and now the strain of giving up my powers and becoming mortal are taking their toll of me."

"I wish she hadn't been born! She isn't even mine!"

"Victor! You promised me that you'd love her damn it! You promised!"

"I'm sorry, Keela. I know I promised, but it's hard to keep it, when I know that that bastard Logan is her real father. Why'd ya sleep with him, when you were with me, Keela? Why?"

"What can I say… I'm a demon who loves my men wild and hairy. Heh Heh (cough cough) I could never keep my paws to myself. But I do want you to know something, Victor. Out of all the mortal men in the world… It was you and only you that I truly loved."

"Keela."

"Please, be the father that Angel really needs… When she hits puberty… Her demonic powers will begin to grow, but they will never be fully under her control, unless trained properly. She's only a half demon after all…" she reaches inside the drawer of her night stand and pulled out a strange looking book, and hands it to Sabertooth, "When it is time… Give this to Angel. It is all that she needs to know to reach her full potential." her breathing becomes shallow and Victor knows that it is close to the end of Keela's life.

"Keela!"

"Angel? Where's my little Angel?"

"Keela, please! Don't die!"

"Angel… Where's my-" then all life ceased to exist for Keela Creed.

An aching pain overwhelmed Victor Creed and for the first time in a long time he broke down and cried, "KEEEEEEEEEELA!!! KEEEEEEEEEELA!!!"

The sound of a door opening caught Xavier's attention. Angel had appeared, holding a rather fat teddy bear.

"Daddy? Why are you crying? Is Mommy okay?"

Xavier turned his attention on Sabertooth now.

Sabertooth looked up at Angel and gave her a rather dark look, "Get back to your room, Angel."

"Daddy, is Mommy-"

"I SAID GET BACK TO YOUR ROOM!!!" he got up and grabbed Angel but the front of her shirt, dragging her to her bed room, and throwing her in.

"I want to see Mommy! I want to see Mommy now!"

"Well, ya can't! Keela's dead because of you!"

His words struck her like a hot knife through butter, "I wanna see Mommy now! I wanna see her! I wanna see her!!!" she tried to run past him, but he knocked her down.

"You don't deserve to see her!"

Tears swelled in her eyes, "I hate you, Daddy! I hate you!!!"

"If ya want someone to hate, frail… Hate that bastard Logan, he's the one that stole Keela away from me and brought yer pitiful body into this world. As far as I'm concern both him and you are to blame!"

"I hate you!" again she ran for the door, out of sheer anger Sabertooth raise his fist and struck her as hard as he could in the head, sending her flying across the room.

The scene went black for a moment, then appeared again. Xavier looked around and saw that Angel's body was lying on the floor, she struggled to sit up, and held her head. Looking around she remembered where she was at and tried to run back to her mother's room, but found that her bedroom door was locked. She tried to scream and yell, but nothing came out; she was mute.

"Trauma to the head. That would explain why she was unable to talk."

The scene faded out and Xavier was back at where he started, this time he saw a tear shaped gem floating in the air. He touched it and saw a scene with just Angel and her mother.

After her mother told Creed off for yelling at her, her mother said to her in a calm voice, "Don't take too much to heart what your father says. He really does love you and cares for you too, it's just he tends to have a bad temper at times, and you must be patient with him." her mother hugged her tightly, her calm voice slowly began to quiver, "No matter what he says…. Always remember that he is your father… And-And that he loves you. It's just in his nature to be angry."

Xavier began piecing the memories together and understood, "Things are beginning to make sense now."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!"

He was suddenly startled by a rather angry demonic voice, everything that he saw suddenly vanished. The only thing present was a rather large blurry red outline of what looked to be a rather large animal.

"YOU ARE NOT WELCOMED HERE!!! LEAVE NOW!!!"

"I'm only trying to help!" he called out.

"NO! YOU ARE ONLY MAKING THINGS WORSE!!!" the creature grabbed every gem and took it to a box and locked them in, "YOU ARE BRINGING OUT A PAST THAT SHOULD LEFT BURRIED."

"Burying the past isn't going to help anything, Angel. It's solves nothing! Can't you see that it's hurting you? It's literally made you handicapped in the outside world."

"I AM NOT ANGEL!!! I AM NOT THAT WEAKLING OF A HALF DEMON!!!"

"You are an alter personality then?"

"CALL ME WHAT YOU WILL, YOU WON'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SAY IT A SECOND TIME."

"Wait! I just want to help Angel!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!" the creature struck out at Xavier and hit him.

He looked down at his chest and saw four parallel lines, "I have to get out of here!" the creature raised it's paw to strike again, but by the it brought it's paw down, Xavier had already left Angel's mind.

Xavier awoke back in the real world and saw that everyone was hovering over him.

"Professor are you alright?!" Scott asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." looking around he realized that he was lying down on one of the medical beds, "Why am I over here?"

Hank answered his question, "Normally we would not bother you while you were in such focus, Charles, but when you began bleeding-"

"Bleeding?!" Charles looked down to see that his chest was completely bandaged up, "This has never happened before…"

"Yes. It is quite disturbing. Did Angel attack you while you were in her mind?"

"No… It wasn't Angel. It was another."

"Another?" Freddy asked.

"Yes. Apparently Angel has an alter personality, one that's full of rage and would rather suppress pain than deal with it. Once Angel wakes up, we must get to work right away on her rehabilitation. Freddy. Toad."

"Yeah?"

"I want you to go back to Sabertooth's house and look for a book for me. Hank, a pen and paper if you please?" Xavier began drawing the image of the book that he had saw in Angel's mind and gave it to the boys, "Find it and retrieve it by whatever means necessary. It's the only way to help Angel with her powers."

"Got it, Professor. Anything to help Angel."


	15. Whatever Means Necessary

Chapter 15

Whatever Means Necessary

While Freddy and Toad went back to Angel's house to look for the mysterious book, Xavier and his X-Men stayed behind to help the injured and to help Angel whenever she finally woke up.

Out of the two injured X-Men, as always, Logan came out the luckiest. Jean however was not as lucky. She had a few broken ribs and a broken arm, after she woke up, the X-Men told her what all happened after she was rendered unconscious. Normally she would have been more than nervous around the unconscious Angel, but she knew what Angel has been through and she felt the need to reach out and hug the girl.

Xavier was pleased to see that all of the X-Men were more than willing to help out and monitor Angel. After experiencing a near death in both body and mind within Angel's shattered mind he had not told anyone about the dark creature lurking within her mind nor the discovery of Angel's biological father, Logan. The only person that he had trusted with that information was Beast, who was just as worried about their new patient and their well being of the rest of the X-Men.

"Hank, will you do a blood comparison for Angel and Logan?"

"Certainly, Professor." Hank withdrew some DNA from Angel and put it in their computer data base. "I'll simply pull up Logan's file to compare their DNA's, this way we will receive the results much faster." They intently watched the computer monitor as it compared the two DNA's, within a minute the computer began flashing "MATCH", "I believe we have our answer, Professor. Logan is Angel's father."

Xavier sighed, "That would explain Sabertooth's hatred towards Logan…"

"I just don't understand why, after all of these years, Sabertooth continued to raise his enemy's daughter?"

"It was her mother's last wish… He loved her too much to say no."

"Ah, sweet love… It can only go so far. He loved the woman enough to raise a child that was not his, but not enough to give love back. Instead he simply used her as a means to release his anger and to make him feel as though he is a God over a life that is greatly weaker than him."

"Sabertooth is a very sick man, Hank. And Angel is trapped in his sick twisted game that he likes to play with all of his victims' lives. Due to the trauma that she has experienced, she has repressed many traumatic memories so much, for so long that I believe she has created an alter personality that comes out whenever she is in high tension."

"You have told me about this personality before, Professor. Is it really as dangerous as you say it is?"

"You saw what happened to me after I left her mind, Hank. I believe it's even more dangerous than the personalities that trouble Rogues mind."

"Oh?"

"Both personalities are struggling for ultimate control. Angel's personality split when she was young, Angel as she is normally is the one who is gentle, shy, loving, and finds no flaw in her father's actions. The other is the one that immerges when she is on the brink of death; this one holds all the hatred that it feels for Sabertooth and Logan, its angry and not afraid to fight back with full force. It hates Angel as well, so much, that it is locking away all of Angel's memories or at least the ones it doesn't want her to remember. I maybe wrong though… I don't know whether it's doing it to slowly erase Angel's mental being or to protect her."

"But you said that it hates her as well?"

"It does, but even a person who hates another who is filled with innocence and love will keep them close, either to fill a void that they feel is missing or just because they are curious."

Hank was about to say something, but his attention was drawn to movement out of the corner of his eye. Angel had woken up and was reaching for the pitcher of water sitting next to her bed.

"It looks as though our patient is awake. It is Angel that is awake?"

"Yes, Hank."

"Phew." Hank walked over to Angel's side and sat down in a nearby chair. Angel ignored his presence and focused on chugging down the pitcher of water. Hank waited patiently, until she was done.

She was on purposely taking long drinks of water, so she wouldn't have to face him. Though she was filled with much love, she could also carry a grudge just like Sabertooth. In her mind, the X-Men were her enemy because they were friends and associates of Logan. Any friends of Logan are enemies of her and her father.

Finally she could drink no more and had no choice but to face the blue furred man sitting next to her.

"Hello, Angel, it's good to see you that you are finally awake." He smiled, but she did not return the smile, "I would like to ask you a few yes or no questions to keep things simple. Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated. We just want to get to the source of your problems and help you." Angel flips him off and climbs off of the med, "Please, Angel, we just want to help."

Angel glared at him, she saw that his eyes were sincere, without even thinking she began signing to him in sign language.

"Hmm I'm sorry, but I do not know sign language, but I do have a device that will make communicating much more easier." He went to the other side of the room, grabbed something, then turned back around and brought over a metal looking crown, "Ever since the girls came home and told me about your handicap for speaking, I have become very intrigued. I have been experimenting with different ways to make a device that can project an artificial voice for those who have no voice. This is make latest creation, but I have not had a chance to test it. If it would be alright with you, I would like you to be the very first person to wear the "Thoughtful Voice". What do you think? Would you like to give it a try?"

She thought about it for a moment, staring at the device that Beast held in his massive hands. She reached out for it, but hesitated, until she finally took in a deep breath and took the device. Rotating it around in her hands, she examined it, and then placed it upon her head. Not sure as to what to do, she looked to Hank for help.

He walked up to her and pressed a button on the front, "There just think of anything and it will project an artificial voice."

"Uh… Okay." She jumped at hearing the electronic voice, "This is really weird…"

"Hmm let me adjust the settings a bit… There! That should help. Try it again."

"What do you want me to say?" the electronic voice came out more smoothly, it sounded nearly similar to Jean's, but at a deeper, husky level. "Change the damn voice."

"Is it not to your liking?"

"No. It sounds too much like Jeans. If I'm going to be stuck with a voice, I wanna be stuck with one that I can call my own."

"Very, well." He adjusted the setting a little more and had her test the other voice possibilities. Hank was a very patient man, but even patient men have their limits. "Angel, sooner or later you will have to pick a voice, I cannot simply stay here all day I have things I must do. Now pick one! Please?"

Frowning, she finally settled for a voice that sounds similar to Callisto's voice from Xena Warrior Princess.

"Happy?"

"Extremely. Now, I want you to try and get some rest, and tomorrow-"

"Fat chance of that!" she hopped down off of the bed, "I'm going home."

"I'm afraid we cannot allow that, Angel." Said Xavier, "It's too dangerous for you to go back."

"For you maybe, but not for me."

"Angel! Freddy and Toad brought you here because they thought that we could protect you."

"Well, they thought wrong. Where are my clothes?"

"You don't have any, my dear. When they brought you in you were completely naked except for a shredded top. Don't you even remember what Sabertooth had done to you?"

"As far as I'm concerned my father hasn't done a damn thing to me, except give me the punishment I deserved for disobeying him. My dad's a good man, who no one understands."

"He raped you, Angel, and nearly killed you in the process!"

Angel grimaced, clenching her fists, "Freddy said the same thing… But you're both wrong! And what's more wrong is that you are holding me here against my will and without proper authority. Nothing you can say or do will make me stay."

Xavier sighed, he knew that she was right, but he could let her leave. It was too dangerous, "If you leave… Then I'll have no other choice but to tell Logan the real reason why Saberooth hates him."

She froze, "You're bluffing!"

"I'm a telepath, Angel. I saw your memories."

"That's an invasion of privacy! You had no right to-"

"I had every right. You endangered the lives of two of my X-Men and destroyed quite a bit of my property, I just wanted to get to the source of it all."

"This is blackmail! This isn't right!!!"

"Nor would it be right if I just simply allowed you to walk out that door only to return to your abuser, who could do you more harm than he has in the past."

"And" Hank interjected, "Just to prove to you that we are not bluffing," he taps on the computer screen, "We have the proof we need to show Logan your little secret."

"Bastards!"

"Get some rest Angel." Xavier and Hank begin to leave, "You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

"YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!!" without even thinking she kicks the medical bed clear across the room and into the wall. Shocked at the amazing strength she portrayed, but not enough to turn her anger off.


	16. Freddy's Plea

Freddy's Plea

Chapter 16

Later that night Freddy and Todd came back empty handed.

"I'm sorry, Professor." said Freddy, who looked pretty beat, "We weren't able to find anything."

"When we got there, the whole place was empty." Todd piped, "Everything was gone, even the cob webs! It was as if no one ever lived in that house."

Xavier frowned, "He must have discovered that Angel was gone and didn't want to risk being caught..." he looked at the boys, who were clearly exhausted and gave them a friendly smile, "You both have done well today. Why don't you get some rest?"

"Thanks, Professor."

"Professor, how's Angel?" asked Freddy before turning to leave.

"She's not in the best of moods, since we're not allowing her to go see Sabertooth, but we have developed a device that will allow her to speak to everyone without her needing to use sign language."

Both Todd and Freddy looked at eachother with worried expression.

"Can we go see her?"

"Not tonight I'm afraid. She's been pretty aggressive and I want to give her the chance to cool down before we make anymore attempts of contact with her."

"Oh..."

With that the boys went straight to their room. Freddy wanted to see Angel, but wasn't sure whether or not to go against the Professor's wishes and visit her. Todd saw the anguish on his best friend's face, Angel was his friend too, and he knew how the both felt about each other even though Freddy denies his true feelings just to protect her.

"You know, Freddy..." Todd began, "I bet that if only one of us stays in this room while the other goes out to do whatever he needs to do, then the other one can cover for him in case some nosey person starts to ask where the other one is."

"Todd, are you saying-"

"Go see her, yo. I'll cover for you."

"Are you sure?"

"Just think of it this way, you get to see the girl you truly like and I'll actually get a good nights right without have to hear you snore for once."

"Thanks, Todd, I owe you one."

"By my record you owe me a shit ton. Now go, before one of the X-Geeks decides to get a mid-night snack."

With that Freddy snuck down the stairs and into the med lab. He was hesitent to go in at first. He saw Angel sitting up with her knees pulled close to her, she hugged them, while she was hiding her face crying. Taking a deep breath he walked in and sat down on the bed next to her. The movement on the bed caught Angel by surprise.

'Freddy!' she threw her arms around him, hold onto to him for dear life, 'Oh, Freddy, I'm so happy that you're here!'

Feeling the love and warmth of her hug, made him forget why he was distancing himself from her, and he hugged her back with the equal amount of love and warmth. For a while they did not say anything, they just held onto eachother, because deep down inside they just really needed each other.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up, Angel..."

'It's okay. I'm just happy that you came to see me. Where's Todd?'

"He's covering for me up in our room. Xavier told us that we couldn't see you, until tomorrow, and well... I-I just had to see you."

'Freddy...' he burried her face into his chest.

"Angel, I want you to know that I will do everything that I can to protect ya. I promise you that I won't ever let anyone hurt you again, not even your father."

'But he didn't-'

"Just, please, listen to me, Angel. After I came to see you... To get you... After I saw what had happened to you, I swore that I would never let anything like that happen to you again!" he pulled her onto his lap and hugged her even closer to him, "I don't know what I'd do without you, Angel. You've been one of my very best friends and I care about you too much to lose you! Please, Angel... Please don't go back to that mad man? I know he's your father and that you love him, but I just don't want you to get hurt again. I'm scared that next time he'll-he'll kill you and you won't be coming back!"

Angel didn't know what to say. For a long while she had hated the X-Men and Freddy for keeping her from her father, she still hates the X-Men, but she no longer hates Freddy. She could never be mad at him, she loved him, and it pained her to see Freddy's anguish. She never could remember the severe punishments that her father would give to her, but she always remembered the ones that had left her limping back to her room. In her mind she deserved them and her father was disiplining her out of love for her and because it was what he thought was best. But now that Freddy was showing her his true feelings and was even crying, she wasn't so sure whether her father was in the right to punish her anymore.

'I'll stay, Freddy... Only if you and Todd say with me as well. I do't want to be alone with these people, especially with Logan around.'

He kisses her forehead, letting his lips linger a bit, "Thank you, Angel. You don't know how much this means to me. We'll stay with you, even when Xavier says that you can go. You're always welcome to live with us back at the Brother Hood house."

'I'm glad... Freddy?'

"Yeah?"

'Can I stay with you and Todd tonight? I don't want to be alone down here.'

"Anything you want, Angel." he picked her up and wrapped a blanket around her, taking her up the stairs and into the room that he shared with Todd. Todd gave him a nervous look, "It's okay. She's gonna stay with us tonight. If Xavier has anything to say about it, then he can kiss my fat white ass." he laid Angel down on his bed and started to lay on the floor.

'Freddy... You don't have to lay on the floor.'

"I know, but I'd rather have you be comfortable, than sleeping on a freezing floor."

'Freddy, you can sleep up her with me if you want...' she blushed, 'I trust you.'

"Uh..."

"Oh, for the love of God, Freddy! Go sleep with your girl, before I end up sleeping on the floor, yo!"

"Shut up, Toad!" he looked up at her nervously, "Are you sure that you're alright with this?"

'I said I trust you, didn't I?'

"Okay..." he kicked off his shoes and nervously crawled into bed with her, putting a pillow in between them.

'What's that for?'

"It's a safety procaution for the both of us."

'A what?'

"Just go to sleep." he blushed a deep shade of red and turned off the light.


	17. Play Time in the Danger Room

Play Time in the Danger Room

Chapter 17

The next morning, when Xavier and Hank found Angel missing they began to panic. Thinking that she had somehow snuck out of the mansion and went back to Sabertooth. But to their suprise after they hurried upstairs, they were shocked to find her sitting on the kitchen counter eating a bowl of cereal with both Freddy and Todd.

Todd became nervous when he saw Xavier and Hank standing in the doorway. He pretended to aim for an invisible fly with his tongue on the back of Freddy's head just to get his attention.

"Toad! What the hell, man?!" he spun around angrily, but his anger quickly faded when he saw who was standing in the doorway, "Uh... Hey, Professor. Did ya get a good nights sleep?"

"Yes, I did, Freddy." Xavier eyed the young girl suspiciously, "I take it that Angel is in a better mood this morning?"

"Yeah, actually." looking back at Angel, he noticed that she was pretending to be interested in the cereal box, "Don't worry, Professor. I talked to her and she promised that she wouldn't try to leave to go back to her dad."

"Well, that's a start. Angel?" she looked up with a rather annoyed expression, "I want to start some therapy sessions with you, so that you might understand why we're all trying to protect you from Sabertooth."

'Whatever helps you sleep at night.' she went back to pretending to read the box.

"I would also like to arrange some time for you to participate in the danger room. You have impressive powers, Angel, I'd like to see how well you can harness them when you truly want to."

'In other words you want me to be a lab rat, right?'

"No. That's not it at all-"

'Let's see, you want to get into my head to see what makes me tick and you want to experiment with my powers in different environments. Hmm Yep. That pretty much sounds like a lab rat.'

"Are you really going to be this difficult while your here?"

'I'm not difficult! I'm just cooperatively challenged." she smiled smugglely, "Anyways, you should have known that this was going to happen when you tried to black mail me.'

Todd and Freddy looked at her with shocked expressions, "Black mail?"

'Oh, they didn't tell you? Guess, they don't trust anyone, who's not an X-Man.' she put the box down and jumped off of the counter, 'Well, I'm full! If anyone needs me, I'll be in the living room watching cartoons.'

Xavier rubbed his temple, grimicing, "Sometimes I ask myself 'why do I even bother'."

Xavier had started Angel's therapy sessions, for the first 3 weeks he had made no break through. Angel was more stubborn than he had anticipated. She showed no true sign of making any effort in the Danger Room either. Xavier was at was about to give up, until he realized that if you can't force the lion out of it's den, you must lure it out with a piece of meat.

"Logan, would you mind helping me with Angel?"

Later that evening the Professor called Angel into the Danger Room to begin another session. Without arguement she put on her full body leotard and went down there. She still was not comfortable with her body, when they had given her her first leotard she had refused to wear it again after her first session. It was much more revealing than she liked and showed many of her scars which caught the attention of everyone living in the mansion. She hated how they stared and whispered behind her back and how they pittied her. She had demanded that Xavier give her a leotard that didn't who any unnecessary skin or else she wouldn't participate in any of the therapeutic exercises anymore. Once he agreed he gave her a green leotard that only showed her face.

Freddy had decided to watch one of her sessions and was shocked to see that she actually had a figure and rather large breasts for someone her size. His face flushed and he felt a tight tug at his pants, when he realized that the situation had not gone unnoticed by Xavier he turn a deeper shade of red, and excused himself so he could take a very cold shower.

Xavier chuckled and then turned his attention back on Angel, who was still waiting. "Are you ready, Angel?"

'Yeah, yeah. Let's hurry up and get this over with, so we can say it's a flop like all the other exercises.'

"It will only be a flop if you are not willing to give a 100, Angel."

'Blah Blah Blah So what's the name of this exercise?'

"Conquering your rage."

'Say what now?' the sound of the Danger Room door opening caught Angel's attention, Logan had walked in, and immediately Angel was set in an instant rage, 'I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!'

"Holy shit!" Logan had barely enough time brace himself for the impact. They went tumbling to the floor. He had kicked her over his head, quickly getting back up, only to be knocked down again. "Damn she's fast!" He tried to see her movements, but she would randomly appear and then dissapear out of his sight. She punched him in the back of his head and then slugged him in the gut, knocking the wind right out of him.

"Get up, Logan! You must defend yourself!" Xavier cried over the intercom.

"Can't you see I'm tryin'?! She just keep teleportin' in an' out! Her actions are spuratic I'm can't keep up!"

"She's not teleporting, Logan. She's just moving really fast and stopping to let you see her before she hits you."

"So she likes her enemies to see her before she hits them, huh?" he smirked and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of her movement, and waiting for when they stopped. He heard it stop right behind him again, near his legs, and with one sweeping motion he spun around and kicked her in the head, sending her spireling. "Ha! Even you have your flaws, kiddo! And yours is vanity when it comes to fightin'."

She landed on her feet and wiped the blood from her head, 'I'm gonna make you pay, you bastard!' her eyes turned from amber to blood red again, 'THIS IS FOR MY FATHER!!!" she became faster, claws grew in place of her finger nails, her knuckles cracked as she tightened the tendons, and she slashed deep into Logan's chest, 'Looks like someone else has a flaw too. Pride.' she spat in his face and kneed him in the groin, 'I'm gonna enjoy this!' she kicked him across the room and pinned him in the corner, stricking at him unrelentingly; laughing menically in her head.

He tried to block her shots and keep a cool mind, but there's one thing that he hated more in the world than Sabertooth, and that was being cornered. Out of pure instinct he popped out his claws and stabbed his attacker in the heart. He didn't realize what he had done, until her attacks stopped. He stared in horror and quickly pulled them out, but became confused when he saw that there was no blood.

Angel threw her head back and laughed. Her hair started to turn black and she grew fangs, and spoke true words a second time, "This is gonna be fun." she raced up and began attacking again, expecting him to still be in shock.

But now Logan knows that she can take a hit and it was going to take a lot more to take her down. He didn't hold back on using his claws, he stabbed and slashed as much as he could, and was still amazed to see that there was no blood. She healed just as quickly as he cut her. He thought that his fight would never end, until he saw that she was actually slowing down and became wobblie. He stopped to watch her, but braced himself for another attack. She dropped to a knee and looked up, she seemed unable to focus, and looked as though someone had drained the color from her skin.

"I-I won't accept it... I will never accept you! It's all your fault..." saying those words she collasped into an unconscious heap.

"What the hell?" Logan walked over to her and knelt down beside her, "What the hell does she mean by that, Chuck?" he looked up hoping for an answer, but Xavier had remained silent. "Charles, did you hear me?"

"I think it would be best to ask questions later. For right now we need to get her to the med lab immediately, so that Hank can run a diagnostic test on her."

"Alright, Charles." he picked the young girl up and stared into her face, "Hmph Her face seems familiar... Where have I seen it before?"


	18. Bonding

"Bonding"

Chapter 18

Freddy had just finished his cold shower when Todd came bursting into their room.

"Freddy! Freddy!"

"Holy shit! Toad!?! What the hell?!" Freddy shrieked, trying his best to keep his waist covered.

"It's Angel! She freaked in the danger room and collasped!"

"What?!" he let got of the towl, "I gotta go see her!"

"Uh, Freddy... First you gotta put on some pants."

10 minutes later...

Angel awoke to find herself in the med lab, she looked around to find Freddy sitting next to her, holding her hand, and looking down at her.

'Freddy...' she gave him a small smile.

"Angel..." he gave her hand a sqeeze and caressed her cheek, "You okay?"

'Yeah, I'm fine. Why? What happened?'

"You don't remember?"

'Not really... Everythings kinda fuzzy. All's I remember is getting ready to do another one of baldies boring simulations and Logan was there for some reason, I got angry, and that's when everything kinda goes hazey.' she became concerned, 'Did I do something bad again?'

"I dunno. Toad just told me that you collasped in the danger room and I came rushing down here."

She looked up at the ceiling, forgetting for a moment that she still had the communication device that Beast made for her on her head, 'I don't know how much longer I can take this shit... I wanna go home... I want my dad.'

He clenched his fists, fighting back the urge to yell at her for what she had just said. He knew that now was not the time to yell at his friend, because she was already on the edge as it was. Instead he sat down next to her, pulled her into his lap, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her forhead.

Tears threated her eyes as she nuzzled her head deep into his chest, 'I'm sorry, Freddy. I just don't know what to do... I can't get past my hate for Logan to even cooperate with his friends.'

Freddy sighed, "What did Logan do to make you hate him so much?"

She clutched his shirt tight in her hands, 'He. Hurt. Him.'

"They hurt each other all the time."

'No... Logan hurt his pride as a man, but taking his woman... My mother.'

"What?"

'That's why my dad is the way he is. My dad had finally found true happiness and Logan took it all away in one swoops. My dad has never been the same since.'

"How long ago did this happen?"

'I'm not sure... But I was really young when it was brought up.'

"Brought up? When?"

'When my mom was dying... She had some kind of sickness that no doctor could cure. She got it right after I was born, that's why dad doesn't like me much...'

"Angel..."

'It's okay. The way I figure he likes me more better than Logan anyways. I don't remember much about my mom, but what I do remember, is that she was very kind and she loved both my dad and me very much. I wish I knew more about her... Dad never talks about her very much, unless he really misses her. I remember that she kept a weird looking diary that she would write in daily and read it anytime she needed to remember something. I almost got the chance to read it when I was playing in the attic when I was 12, but dad caught me and took it away.' she shuddered as a memory of her punishment flashed through her mind, 'I don't know where it is now. All's I know is that dad has it...'

"I'll find it for you, Angel."

She pulled away and looked at him with fear in her eyes, 'You can't! My dad will hurt you again like he did last time! If something were to happen to you-'

"Nothing will happen to me. I promise. I'll just wait for your dad to leave and then I'll sneak it and find it. I'll have someone with me to act as look out in case shit happens. Okay?"

'No it's not okay! You're my best friend, Freddy, and you mean so much to me!' she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed, 'Please, don't go, Freddy?! It's too dangerous! I'll die if you got killed because of me...'

"Alright, Angel. I promise. I won't set foot into your dad's house."

He waited until she cried herself back to sleep and silently left the room. Closing the door quietly he headed back to his room, speaking to no one but himself, "But that doesn't mean I won't send someone else in to look for it. Oh, Toooooooooooad."

The next day, when Angel was fully rested and had calmed down completely. Freddy and Toad decided it was time to coax her into leaving behind her past grudges and socialize with the rest of the X-Men. At first Angel flat out refused, she even fought against them when they began pulling on her, but all of her efforts were for naught when Freddy picked her up and flung her over his shoulder.

"You need a social life, Angel."

'I already have one!'

"Toad and I don't count."

'Why not?'

"Yeah, why not, Freddy?"

"Because-Because... We just don't, okay!"

They walked around until they found Jean, Kitty, and Rogue sitting in the lounge chatting.

"Perfect!"

Angel looked over her shoulder, 'Oh, hell no! Put me down! I'd rather go back to doing the danger room sessions!'

"You were fine with them, before you knew that they were friends of Logan."

'Yeah, well that was then and this is now. Now put me down!'

"Whatever you say." he lifts her up off of his shoulder and plants her on the sofa, smack dab in the middle of Jean and Rogue, "Angel really wants to be friends and spend time with you girls. Take her clothes shopping, she'll like that. Bye!" and with amazing speed that nearly matched Quicksilvers both Freddy and Toad ran out of the room.

Angel was utterly horrified at her current situation and didn't know what to do. Everyone stared at her, her face reddened, and she sunk deep into the sofa, 'I really hate you right now, Freddy.'

Both Freddy and Toad ran upstairs to their room, laughing along the way.

"Did you see the look on her face, yo? That was priceless! I wish I had a camera."

"I just hope that it doesn't come back to haunt us. Last thing we need is a feral Angel kickin' both our butts."

"Speakin' of butts' gettin' kicked. How do you expect to keep mine gettin' whiped all over the floor if Sabertooth catches me?"

"I'm not sendin' ya in all by your lonesome, Todd. Kurt's gonna help ya."

"Oh, gee, and here I was gonna be worried. You know I don't like that fuzzy plush toy!"

"Well, think of it this way. In order to help Angel you're gonna have to go through the same hell as she is right now."

"I think I'll go rescue her right now." he started to walk back down stairs, but Freddy pulled him back.

"Ya ain't gettin' outta this one that easy. There'll be one other person there to help."

"I'm afraid to ask."

"In case shit happens he'll be your trumph card."

"You mean-"

Freddy nodded, "Logan."

Toad moaned, "Why do you hate me?"

Freddy couldn't help but chuckle as he pulled his friend with him to find the others.

"By the way. How the hell did ya con Logan into helpin'?"

"It wasn't easy. The best I could offer was makin' sure Angel didn't attack him every time she saw him."


	19. Let's Get This Mission Started

"Let's Get This Mission Started"

Chapter 19

While Jean, Kitty, and Rogue tried their best to convince Angel that they truly wanted to be her friends, Todd, Kurt, and Logan left the X-Mansion to go back to Angel's old house to look for the diary. The house was still very much empty. They searched every nook and cranny they could find for that diary and still they couldn't find a thing.

"Vell?" sighed Nightcrawler, "Vat now?"

"I dunno, yo. You got any ideas, Wolf Man?"

"Grrrr What was that, frog boy?!"

"Uh Uh I mean Do you have any ideas, Wolverine, sir?"

"That's better." Logan stared at the empty house for a while, scratching his chin, "Hmmm I do have one other idea. We'll need the X-Jet and some warm clothes."

"What?! Where we goin' exactly, yo? Hey. Hey! Don't walk away from me when I'm talkin' to you! Hey!"

Meanwhile inside the Bayville Mall, the girls were dragging Angel through all of the clothing stores that they could think of to get her to pick out a prom dress. They had no luck unfortuneately. With the new designs out there, none of them could cover any of Angel's scars.

"I'm sorry we couldn't find a dress for you, Angel." said Jean.

'It's okay. I really don't feel like going to the prom anyways.'

"Don't say that... Hey, maybe we can, like make a dress for you! How about that?" said Kitty enthusiastically.

'I just don't feel like going to the prom... There'll be other proms anyways.'

Rogue sighed, "Maybe we should look at something else for a while. All these guady dresses are hurtin' my eyes. Why don't you pick the next store we go into."

Angel looked around at all of the nearby stores and sighed, 'I'm not much for shoppin'. The only time I ever shopped was when I needed school supplies or a pen and paper when when I wanted to communicate.'

"Well, what kind of stuff are you interested in?" asked Jean.

'Well... It's stupid.'

"Tell us."

She blushed, 'I like books and kittens.'

Jean put a gentel hand upon her shoulder, "I don't think that's stupid at all. Come on. There's a book store in the mall."

Back at the X-Mansion...

The boys gathered up the supplies that they needed to take their trip to Canada. The only other place that Logan knew of where Sabertooth had a cabin. It was the one place that Sabertooth always went to, no matter what happened, he always went back home to where it all began.

"Make sure you come back with that book. Okay, Todd?"

"Don't worry, Freddy. I'll make sure we don't forget the book. That's the only thing we're going after anyways. Just remember. You owe me big time."

"Believe me, I know. Hell, I'll even catch a life time supply of bugs for ya just for doin' this for me."

Todd smiled, "I'll definately take ya up on that. But there's one thing I'd like ya to do for me after all of this is done."

"You name it. I'll do anything."

"Tell Angel how you really feel about her."

"But I-"

"HEY!!!" roared Logan from the X-Jet, "If you ladies are done yappin' let's get goin' already!"

"See ya, Freddy! Think about what I said."

"But, Todd!"

Before he could say another word Todd and the other two X-Men disapeared into the X-Jet and flew away. He stared off after them with a look of forlorn upon his face.

Todd sat down in his seat and sighed.

Kurt, who was sitting in the seat next to him looked at him with concern, "Are you alright, Toad?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine..."

"Just drop it, fuzz ball. It's none of your buisness anyways."

"I vas just asking. Jeez! You don't have to be so rude about it."

Logan tried his best to ignore the conversation. He just wanted to find the book and get out, so that Angel would stop attacking him on sight. The more she attacked him the more times he had to go out and buy new clothes.

To Todd's dismay, Kurt was still very curious about the three new comers and he continued to ask questions.

"I know this is an import mission, but..."

Todd rolled his eyes, "But what?"

"But vhy are we really doing this? Can't Angel get along without zat book?"

Todd thought for a bit, trying to think of a way how he could tell them the truth but not the whole truth, "The Prof said that that book was vital to unlocking Angel's past and it might help her to become more friendly with you guys."

"That vould be a good reason. Wouldn't it, Logan?"

"Yep. Now how about you tell us the real reason you asked me and Kurt to help you with this mission."

"W-What?" Todd was flabergasted, "I don't quite get what ya mean, yo."

"Don't play dumb! Ya can't get any dumber than what ya already are."

"Ouch!" said both Kurt and Todd in unison.

"Logan, vasn't that a little harsh?"

"Harsh is the only way people like him knows, Elf. Ya gotta be mean to them if ya wanna get any answers. Ain't that right, stink boy?"

"Fuck you, old man!"

Kurt gasped. He wasn't expecting those words to pop out of Todd's mouth. His attention was now on Logan who had been sitting at the controls in silence.

Angrier than sin. Todd unbuckled his seatbelt and marched up to Logan's side, clenching his fists; he spoke through gritted teeth, "I don't know who you think you are to judge me, but let's get one thing straight... I ain't as dumb as everybody thinks I am! You and your X-Men think you know everything about people like the Brotherhood? People like me? Well guess what. You don't know jack shit, old man! However much hate to think it, we actually do have feelings. Feelings of hate and love and even sadness! We do what we do, because the world has hurt us and no matter how many times we try to make it right the world just continues to shit on us like it doens't matter! The only one out of the Brotherhood group who doesn't get hurt as much is Pietro and that's because he's got looks and the money to spend, but unfortuneatly, he don't have a dad that gives a shit or two about him, just like his sister Wanda." he paused to take a breath, watching Logan who had not said a word the entire time his rant was going on, and then he continued, "As for the rest of us, well... What else is there to say. All's I'm gonna be doin' is waisting my breath because you've already made up your mind about us. No need to get to know us or see why we think the way we do or are the way we are because you've already decided." with that Todd headed back to his seat, but before he sat down Logan spoke.

"Then give me a reason to change my mind. Tell us why we're really doin' this mission."

Todd stared at him for a moment, then sat down, "Freddy asked you guys to do this mission not just for Angel, but for him as well. He cares deeply about Angel in fact... He's in love with her."

"Oh, God... Not another Jean moment."

"It's not what you think! This ain't no high school crush, it's love! It's pure unadulterated love."

"Do you even know what unadulterated means?"

"Shut up! I'm talkin' now."

"What it, punk, or I might go back to thinkin' yer nothin' more than trash again."

"Okay, okay. As I was sayin... It's pure love. Angel feels the same way about him too. I should know. I played middle man for way to long when Fred wouldn't get up the balls and talk to her."

"Vhy vould Blob not want to talk to her if he's in love?"

"It's because of her dad. Freddy got put in the hospital because Sabertooth went ape shit on his ass for stopping him from breaking Angel's back on school property."

"Vat?!"

"Yeah. And somehow Sabertooth was able to enough damage to him that it put Freddy in the hospital. Sabertooth told Freddy that he didn't want anything bad to happen to Angel he'd better stay away from her and stop being friends with her all together."

"Grrr Sabertooth has sunk to an even bigger low than I thought."

"Yeah... Besides Freddy, Angel's one of my best friends as well. I just wanna see them both happy."

"Vell... If it's for ones happiness then I think doing this mission is a good idea."

Logan nodded, "Alright, boys. Let's get this mission done, so that the two soon to be love birds can sing their song!"


	20. Unexpected Twists

Unexpected Twists

Chapter 20

Freddy sat at home waiting for the girls to get back from their day of shopping. When he saw their car pull into the drive way he quickly rushed down the stairs and out the front door to greet them. Since seeing Toad and the others off on what seemed like a wid goose chase he had completely forgot about a cover story in case Angel started asking where Todd had dissapeared to. When he popped out of the mansion he saw that they were already coming up the stairs.

'Shit!' he cursed mentally, 'I still ain't got nothin' to tell Angel. I guess I'm just gonna have to wing it.'

"Hey, Freddy." said each one of the girls as they walked past him to get to the door.

"Hey, girls. How did the shopping go?" he asked .

"Not good." replied Rogue, "We went to 2 different malls and looked through 15 different clothing stores just to find one prom dress and come back empty handed."

"Oh."

"Well, it wasn't a total loss." piped Kitty, "We did find something that Angel liked."

"Yeah. A book on cats!" Rogue sneered.

"Knock off the sarcasim, Rogue!" Jean snapped, "The day wasn't just about finding a prom dress for Angel. It was to have a chance for us to get to know Angel a little better." she put her hand on Angel's shoulder, "Did you a least have fun today?"

Angel nodded, she began to sign, but remembered that she still had on the mental device that Beast made for her, 'Yeah... I've never done that kind of thing before. Not even with my dad.'

When she mentioned her father she suddenly became silent and shyed away when she realized that everyone was staring at her.

'Sorry... I didn't mean to bring him up.'

"It's alright, Angel." smiled Kitty, "We're not, like, gonna stop liking you everytime you mention you father."

"We'll just tune you out instead."

"Rogue!"

"What? I'm just kiddin'. Seriously. If you need someone to vent to, we're here for ya."

'Thank you.' Angel smiled slightly and pulled out her new book, 'Do you wanna look at this with me, Freddy?'

"Sure."

She grabbed his hand and led him over to a shaded tree, opening the book so they both could read it.

The three X-Men watched them for a bit and headed inside the Mansion.

Rogue took one last look at them before heading in, "You think those two will ever get up the gumption to ask each other out?"

"I dunno. I hope so. I think that they'd make a cute couple."

"Why is it that small girls go for big guys anyway?"

"Mm-mm Oposites attract I guess."

"Well, it's a good thing that she's got super strengh and can take a hit. Cause she's gonna need it if they ever do more than just go out."

"Ugh! Rogue, why the hell did you have to put that image in my head?!"

"Hey, I thought you said that they'd make a cute couple."

"Yeah, but I didn't want a pornographic image in my head!"

"Ha Ha I don't think anyone does."

Underneath the tree Angel and Freddy were looking at Angel's new book. She sat between his legs so that he didnt have to stretch his neck as much to look at the pictures. They laughed at a few of the pictures and when they were done they laid the book down and stared up at the tree above them, watching the leaves rustle in the breeze. Angel leaned back against Freddy and let out a happy sigh.

Freddy looked down at her, "What?"

'Nothing. I'm just happy right now.'

"Why's that?"

'Cause I'm with you.' she looked up at him and smiled, 'I really like spending time with you, Freddy.' she snuggled closer to him, 'I feel so comfortable around you. So safe.' she closed her eyes, 'You know, I still think about the first time that I ever kissed you.' she opened her eyes again, staring into his intently, 'And I wish I could do it again...'

Freddy's heart fluttered. He has always liked Angel, he's even fallen in love with her; he just never wanted to tell her for fear her father would keep his promise and hurt her to get to him.

She sat up and faced her body towards him, propping herself on her knees she was still very small in comparison to him that she still had to look up at him. Placing both hands on each side of his face, she peered into his eyes searching, and started to move her face closer to his.

'Oh, God!' he cried inside, 'She's really gonna kiss me again! I can't believe a beautiful girl like her is gonna kiss me.' as she moved closer it felt like time was slowing down, 'If only she knew how bad I've wanted to kiss those lips...'

'Freddy... Please, kiss me? I need to know that you feel the same way about me as I feel about you.'

Toad's voice echoed in the back of his mind when she said these words. Earlier his friend told him to tell Angel how he truly felt as payment for the mission he sent them on and now it seemed that that time has come.

Freddy cupped the side up her face with his massive hand; caressing her smooth skin with his thumb. He stared into her eyes for a little longer before pulling her closer to him. Hesitating for a mere moment, his breath heavy with expection, "Are you sure it's me you want? There are other better looking guys out there."

'I'm positive. You mean so much to me, Freddy.' they grew closer, eyes slowly closing, 'I'd die for you...'

These words made him stop before their lips made contact.

Angel was confused, 'Freddy?' he did not respond, 'Freddy, what's wrong?'

"You'd... You'd die for m-me?"

'Yes. Was that the wrong thing to say?'

"I'm sorry." he gently pushed her back and got up, "But I can't do this."

'What?! Why?' she stood up, grabbing his hand, 'I thought... I thouht that you wanted this?'

"I-I can't really say."

'Is it because I'm not pretty like Jean?'

"God, no! It's not that at all. I mean... Hell you're beautiful!"

She blushed, but turned away holding herself, 'You're only saying that to spare my feelings.'

"No! It's true! I really do think you're beautiful, how can't I?"

For brief moment Angel completely forgot all about the device on her head and let her inner thoughts slip out, 'He only thinks I'm beautiful because my face is all that I ever let anyone see.'

His eyes widened, "Do you have scars, Angel?"

Her head shot up and she turned back around to face him, her face was red, 'They're nothing! Just some nicks and scratches. Forget I ever said anything." she started to turn to walk away, but Freddy stopped her.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, he made her look at him, "Angel. Please, be straight with me. How badly scarred are you?"

She didn't want him to know, she didn't want him to see, not especially after she found out that he finally was interested in her.

"Angel! Tell me the truth! Did your father put these scars on you?" his words anger her and she pulled away and knocked him back, "What the hell, Angel?!"

She fought tears that threatened and she fought down the anger that she normally only had for Logan, 'Who the hell do you think you are?! Demanding rediculous questions out of me like that?! You expect me to be straight with you when you won't even be straight with me! It's not fair! It's just not fair!' she dropped to her knees, leaning forword on her hands, and looking down, so she could not look at the boy before her. 'Why can't anybody understand that I can't hate him?! No matter how much shit he's put me through... I've tried to hate him, but I just can't... I just can't.'

'Damn it! Why can't I ever keep my trap shut when it comes to her dad?' he cursed himself. He knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I should've been more sensitive to you. You've been through more shit than anybody else that I know. I just don't know how to approach someone like you."

She let out a sniffle and stood back up, still keeping her head down; not even looking at him, 'You can start by not beating around the bush and tell me why you really won't get close to me.'

"Angel... It's-"

'If you're not gonna give me a straight answer, then you're just wasting my time.' she then turned and ran off into the woods.

Freddy quickly got up and took off after her, but became short of breath very quickly. Even though he had motivation to keep going, but he knew that it was useless to continue the persuite, she was much more faster than he was and could last longer.

"Angel..." he spoke more to himself than to her ghost, "The reason I can't let our friendship be more that what it already is is because your dad threatened to hurt you if I got too close. I-I love you too much to let you die because me. You're the only girl that has ever made me feel like I'm not just a dumb flunky and doesn't judge me by the way I look or talk. God! Why?! Why did you send me a girl that I can't get too close to without her getting hurt or even killed?!" he wiped his face and sighed, "I'd like to tell you the truth, Angel. I want to. But I just can't help but get this sinking feeling like your dad's watching me."

"And that sinking feeling is right, fat boy."

"Sabertooth!" Freddy wurld around searching for the source of the voice, "Show yourself!"

Creed laughed and dropped down from a tree in front of Freddy. "Happy?"

"No! I'm not!"

"Oh?" said Creed mockingly, "Why's zat?"

"You know why, you bastard!"

"Mmm Nope. Nothin' comes to mind. Maybe it'll help if you refreshed my memory for me."

"RAGH!! It's because I can't get close to Angel! What kind of twisted fuck are you that gets pleasure from making you're own kid suffer?!"

Creed smiled sadistically, "The good kind."

"Fucking, bastard!!" Blob ran forward with his fists raised, ready to end this mad man's life once and for all.

Creed simply stood there smiling. When Freddy got close enough he reached behind himself and threw something small and metallic at Freddy's forehead. It landed on it's target, but Freddy was too enraged to even notice. When he came close enough he swung. Creed, who was still wearing that sadistic smile of his stepped aside at the last second letting Freddy's fist make contact with the tree that he had jumped out of. As Freddy hit the tree something happened that never happened before. One, the tree did not break and two, he broke every bone in his hand and forearm.

"AUGH!! What the fuck?! NUGH!!" he cried, grabbin his arm, "That's never happened before!!"

"Heh Heh Well, that was entertaining."

Freddy spun around, "What the hell did you do to me?!"

"Same thing as last time." he pointed to the device on Freddy's head. Freddy pulled it off and looked at it, "I simply slapped an imhibitor on your fat ass, sapping away all of your power; making you just as weak as another everyday human." Freddy growled and started to charge him again, "Ah Ah Ah" he pulled out a handful more of those devices, "We can do this all day if ya haven't learned yer leasson." Freddy growled some more, but stayed put, "Good boy. My warnin' still stands, but I'm allowin' ya some leverage. You can at least be friends with my daughter, just for the simple fact that it has been just fun watching you sweat and fuck things up this entire time."

"You have no fucking clue about how much I want to kill you right now! Why Angel believes that you ever cared for her I'll never understand."

"Neither will I. Before I was ever her age I had already killed my parents for the shit they done to me. But it's kinda cute how she latches onto things that she knows she'll never have such as a happy life... You." he laughed as he saw Freddy restraign a desire to hit him.

"Tell me one thing, Sabertooth! Did you ever love your daughter at least once in her life?"

Creed's smile fell to a frown, "Whaddya mean?"

"You know what I mean, morron! You've had to of loved her at one point to influence that much blind love and devotion in her to make her so loyal to you. What made you change from father of the year to child abusing, pediphile; incestial rapist?!

"Grr You talk to much, you know that? Maybe I should solve that problem by ripping that tongue of yers out of yer fat head!"

"Do that and Angel will know for sure how sick of a bastard you really are and you can kiss her loyalty out the fucking door."

"Grr" Creed looked away from Freddy, searching for an answer, then he looked back at the boy in front of him, "It was her mother."

"Was that all? Just her mother?"

"I think I've had enough for today. This little meeting wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be." he started to turn and walk away, but stopped to say one more thing, "Oh, and by the way. Tell yer friends' to turn back around and stop the search." Freddy looked at him with a confused look. Creed smiled and pulled out an old book with a familiar symbol on the cover, "They'll never find what they're lookin' for."

"That book!" Freddy stepped forward, "We need that book for Angel!"

"Heh Heh I'll be the one to judge when she's ready for this book or not. You should tell Xavier to watch his bounds when going through my kid's head. He might unlock something in there that he can't put back."

"How do you know all this?! How the fuck are you keeping trak of our lives?!"

"I have my sources." he jumped up and dissapeared into the trees, "Remember my warning boy and don't tell no one about our little conversation. Unlike you, I can find Angel easily and I can keep up with her."

Meanwhile on the X-Jet, the three men had just crossed the Canadian border when Todd's phone rang.

"Hello? Hey, Freddy! How'd things go with Angel?" Kurt and Logan couldn't help but ease drop on the conversation, "What?! Man, I swear you have worse luck with woman than me! Whaddya mean turn back around? Oh... Alright, but you and me, we're gonna have a long talk when we get back." Todd hung up the phone and spoke to Logan, "We'll I got good news and some bad news."

"What's the bad news, kid?"

"We gotta turn back around."

"And the good news?"

"Freddy found out where the book is."

"Where?"

"Well, that's the other part of the bad news..."

"What?"

"Sabertooth has it."

"Damn it." growling with frustration, Logan turned the jet back around, "I have a feeling this is gonna be a very, very long search."

It was around midnight when they finally came back home. Freddy and some of the X-Men were there waiting for them.

Todd was the first to jump out of the plan and greet them.

"Hey, yo! What's with the welcoming committee? Did ya miss us that much?"

No one answered, except for the Professor, "I'm afraid this isn't what you think it is. Angel is missing."

"What?! What happend? Wait, wait. Don't answer that. I already know." Todd said looking at a sheepish Freddy. "Did ya use cerebro to find her?"

"I'm afraid that cerebro cannot find her. Her genetic structure has even cerebro confused." he turned his attention to Logan, "Logan. I know it's been many hours, but do you think you can pick up her scent?"

"Maybe."

'Don't even bother.'

Everyone spun around to see Angel walking in.

"Angel!" Freddy and Todd rushed up to her to hug her, but they did not get a hug in return.

Pushing past them, she headed straight for Xavier.

"Angel, where have you been?" asked Xavier.

'I went for a run. Needed to clear my head.' she looked at the X-Jet, 'Are you guys going on a mission or something?'

"We just came back from one." said Logan.

'Oh.' she looked at everyone's faces, stopping on Freddy's for a moment, then she went back to Xavier, 'Can I use the Danger Room, please? I want to releave some stress.'

"If you are supervised you may." he looked to Logan, "Logan-"

'No. I want someone else.'

"Well, Hank and Ororo are out and I'm quite busy at the moment. I don't know of anyone else that would be willing to-"

'I want Freddy to do it.'

The room went silent.

"You want Freddrick to monitor your Danger Room session?"

'Yes.'

"I don't think that would be-"

"I'll do it, Professor." said Freddy stepping forward, "I don't have anything better to do anyways."

Xavier look at Freddy, then at Angel, and then back to Freddy again before speaking, "Normally I don't allow this sort of thing, unless you were one of the team leaders. I allow it this one time and only this one time due to the lack of options."

30 minutes later...

Freddy was sitting up in the conscoul room, looking down upon the danger room. He was waiting patiently as Angel got changed. When she was ready, he was quite surprised to see her walk to the middle of the room wearing a heavey bath robe.

Freddy was very confused, "Angel?"

Angel looked up at him, staring at him with sad eyes that fought back tears.

'Freddy...' she clutched her robe tightly, 'I-I know I haven't been honest with you about many things that deals with my past. Things that I couldn't tell you or was afraid to. I had no right to be angry with you. I don't know why you won't allow yourself to become close to me, but... Whatever the reason is, I won't force you to tell me. We've been friends for far too long to let it end now. I want so much to be honest with you, Freddy. I've just been too scared to open that much to you. Scared, because we've already had a falling out before. Scared, because I was afraid of what my father would do to me if he found out what I have told you.' she clutched the top of her robes more tightly, 'You asked me if my father put scars on my body. Scars that I know will change your mind about whether or not you will still see me as beautiful as you think I am.' with that she threw off her robe and revealed her naked body. Freddy tried to look away, but what he saw had him staring in horror. Yes she had curves and breasts that any girl would die for, but the horrifying scars that covered her body stood out even worse. Scars that were made by claws were raked across her chest making many Xs', across her belly, legs and arms. She turned to let him see her back. There were so many scars from claws, belt straps, and other unidentifable objects that could have been used as disciplinary devices.

"My God, Angel!" he started to turn to rush down to her, but she stopped him.

'Don't. Go. Anywhere, Freddy... I still need to release my anger and I still have more to show you.'

"What do you mean?"

'My scars only come from the ones that I care about. It's a curse that I've had to live with since the day my mother died. No one else can lay scars upon my body... Not even Wolverine. Now. Turn on the symilation and make sure that no one else sees what you've seen here tonight.'

Freddy didn't want to start the symilation, but when he stared into the eyes of the woman that he deeply loved, he couldn't say no. Locking the door behind him, he started up the computer, and watched. Watching her fight and evade the holograms made him see her in new eyes. No longer was she the shy, weak, little girl that he thought her to be, but an animal and a warrior. She was right when she said that she couldn't recieve scars from anything but her father. When the holograms stabbed, cut, and impaled her, she came out clean as a whistle. Her healing factor was so much faster than Logan's. It was almost as if the weapons never made contact with her at all. He didn't realize how much grace and experience in the art of fighting she had and he became very scared when he saw the beast within her come out. Savage and cruel, it was almost as if she was a whole other person fighting inside her body. His fear quickly dissapeared when he notice that the more she healed the weaker she became.

"Angel! You're runnin' outta steam. I'm gonna shut off the symilator."

Angel's eyes shot up, blaring an eerie red glow, as she spoke through her own voice, "You shut it off... I will kill you!"

"Angel?"

"You... Fat, disgusting, waste of space!" she turned her complete attention on him, ignoring everything else, "You think you know what's best? You think you know everything, don't you?"

"Angel, what's going on? You've never talked like this before..."

"That's because I was never given the chance. I was never really... Allowed to be who I really am. Hm Heh Heh Heh" a red aura surrounded her body and sent out a shock wave that destroyed all of the holograms in one blow. She watched as Freddy started to walk backwards, she then shot up into the air, and broke through the monitor room's glass, landing on the conscoul. "What's wrong, tough guy? Scared? Heh Heh"

"No!" he tried to say with false bravodo, but it came out more nervous than anything else, "Angel, why are you doing this? I thought that-"

"First of all, stop calling me by that name. I hate it! I've always hated that fucking name."

"I don't understand-"

She shot forward and slammed him into the wall, latching onto his front; their noses practically touching.

"That's because you're too stupid to understand anything! Especially when a girl is willing to put out for you!" she raised her fist and slugged him across the face, "You think your too good for someone like me? Maybe I should take what I want and just leave you out in a ditch to die!"

She went to slug him again, but he fought back. Throwing her back at the counscoul it sparked as her body made contact. He didn't even give her the chance to recover. Rushing over to her body, he seized her by the hands, and pinned her to the ground. He wasn't going to give her the chance to do anymore damage than what she already has.

"I don't know what's going on with you, but I definately know that you're not the Angel you're supose to be! Who are you? Are you some mutant psychic hired by her father? Answer me!"

"Heh Heh So the fat one isn't as dumb as he may seem, but not by much." she struggled in his grasp, "Nugh! Let me go, ugly, or I'll bite your balls off from down here."

"Not a chance!" he quickly situated himself so that his vital area would be out of her reach, "Now tell me who you are!"

"I am Angel and yet I am not."

"What the? What the hell does that mean?!"

"Why not ask the Professor? He'll know what I mean. He knows more than he'll ever let anybody know. That's how it is with smart guys, who want to keep their puppets in check."

"You're lying! The Professor would never hide anything important like that! He's supose to help us with Angel!"

Freddy accidently loosened his grip on her and she took advantage of it by pushing herself between his legs and latching onto his back, holding her claws to his neck, "Ha Ha Ha Foolish boy. I guess this is where you die a virgin. I don't know why this body is so attracted to you, but I am snuffing out any feelings of you once I kill you!" her claws were pressed against his flesh, but they did not penetrait, "Nnugh! W-What's going on?! Why can't I-" she let go and backed away, clutching her head, "Augh! No! Not now! Not... Agh!" she threw her head back screaming in pain.

"Angel!" Freddy rushed to her side and caught her as she fell silent and collasped in his arms, "Angel?" he gently shook her.

Angel aroused, looking quite confused, speaking to him with the device once again, 'F-Freddy? What's wrong?' she looked around at her surroundings, 'W-Where am I? What happened?"

He blinked, "You don't remember?"

'No... All's I remember is running into the woods and taking a nap by the stream. Brrr why is it so cold in here?' she looked down at herself and gasp, 'No!' she turned away, covering himself, 'Don't look at me! I'm hidious...'

Freddy watched helplessly as she began to cry. He removed his uniforms vest and covered her up in it. It was practially a night gown for her. After doing that he pulled her into a hug and tried his best at soothing her.

"Shhh It's alright, Angel. Shhh It's all right. You're not hidious at all."

'You're just saying that because your my friend.' she sniffed.

"No. I honestly mean it. Come on. We're going to Xaviers office to get some answers."

'Answers? About what?'

"Why you don't remember anything after your run in the woods." he turned to lead her out of the room.

'Freddy?'

"Yeah?"

'Did I hurt you?'

"No. Why would you ask that?" she touched the small bruise that had formed on the side of his face, "Oh, this? I... Got it down in the Danger Room a little while ago. It's nothing. Right now we need to focus on you. Okay?"

'Okay.'


	21. Angel's Awakening

Chapter 21

Angel's Awakening

Unfortunately as luck would have it, Xavier refused to tell Freddy anything concerning Angel's mental health. Xavier was very frightened of what lurked in Angel's mind and refused to go back in, until he and Beast knew exactly what they were dealing with.

For the next few days Angel sat alone in her room; talking to no one. She felt humiliated and frustrated. Knowing that the man she was in love with had seen her naked,scarred body made her feel more insecure than ever.

Freddy took her absence in stride and decided to give her her space. He didn't know whether or not to tell her what really happened. Each morning, he always found himself in front of Angel's door; yerning to be with her. Each time he raised his fist to knock, but he would stop himself, and then move on down to breakfast.

Todd had been watching these events pass and with much frustration he kept his opinions to himself.

One morning Angel woke up around 5 a.m. and decided to go for a walk in the woods. She went back to the place where she had taken a nap when she and Freddy had their fight. She sat down at the river banks edge and washed her face. Clearing her eyes, she stared down at her reflexion; gasping when she noticed that there was another reflexion staring down at her.

'Daddy!' she turned and tried to back away, 'W-What are you doing here?'

Sabertooth stared at her for a bit, then answered, "Come to check on my baby girl is all."

'You shouldn't be here. The X-Men-'

"The X-Men won't even know that I've been here. We're outside of their mansion's security system, so they won't be comin' any time soon." he took a step forward and she took a step back, "Why you so scared of yer old man, girl?"

'I-I'm not scared!'

"Yer lyin'. I can smell it." he took another step forward.

She shrank back, 'Please, don't beat me, Daddy! I didn't mean to lie.'

"Don't worry, kiddo. I ain't gonna punish ya fer lyin' to me. Those X-Men probably got ya brain washed. They been tellin' ya bad things about me, Angel?" she nodded, "Hmph Lemme tell ya somethin, girl. Don't believe a word those punks have to say. They're all hipocrits."

'But they said that they wanted to help me...'

"More like they want to help themselves. What have they done to help ya?"

She looked down at the ground, scared to look into his eyes, 'They've been protecting me from you.'

He growled furiously and grabbed her by the upper arm, jerking her up towards him, "An' what the hell does that mean?!"

She pulled out of his grasp and pushed him away, 'Exactly what it means, Daddy! Ever since Mama died I can't talk or do anything around you without you getting pissed off and beating me! I didn't want to believe it, but the more I talked to Freddy the more it makes sense to me. I've been trying to love the very thing that hates me and it isn't getting me anywhere but more pain! I hate you, Daddy! I hate you!' she began pounding her fists against his chest. Saberooth growled in anger and before he knew it he had Angel over his knee with his free hand raised high. Angel froze in terror, regretting her pent up outburst. But the punishment did not come to her surprise and Sabertooth set her gently back down on the ground. 'Daddy?'

He stared at her for a long time, bringing up a hand, and caressed her face, "You look so much like your mother." he tilted her head up and kissed the top of her forhead, "I won't punish ya this time. For the fact that that cue ball Xavier has probably been messin' around inside yer head. But next time you better remember to talk to me with more respect other wise you'll be in a world of hurt. Got that?"

'Yes, Daddy.' she walked up to him, giving him a sad look.

He sighed and opened up his arms, "Come ere'." she walked in and wrapped her arms around him.

'Daddy... I wanna come home.'

"Alright, kiddo. Let's go." they turned to leave, but her stopped by Logan.

"You ain't takin' her anywhere, Creed!"

Angel stalked forward, eyes glowing red, 'Go away, Logan!'

"Stay outta this, Darlin'. You don't know what your gettin' yourself into."

'Logan!' she lowered herself, ready to attack, but stopped when Sabertooth touched her shoulder, 'Daddy?'

"I'll handle this, Angel. My truck is just a ways over there. Go there and I'll meet up with ya when I finish with this runt."

"Don't you move, Angel! You go with him your sure as hell dead."

'I'll take my chances.' she turned around to run, but ended up running into something big and hard. She looked up with wide eyes, 'Freddy! What are you-'

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to tag along with Logan on his morning run. I guess today was a good day to get some exercise." said Freddy with a grim face.

"Get her outta here, Blob, an' don't let her outta your sights."

"Got it, Logan!" he reached out and grabbed Angel's wrist, "Come on, Angel!"

'No!' she struggled, 'I'm not going back! I want to go home with my dad!'

Sabertooth swiped at Freddy's eyes, making him let go, "Get yer stinkin' hands offa her, punk!" he yanked her away, "I'm not gonna warn ya again, fatso. Stay the hell away from her or else!" he squeezed her wrist tightly.

'Ow! Daddy... Y-You're hurting me!'

Freddy suddenly snapped, "LET HER GO, YOU BASTARD!!!" punching him, grabbing him by his throat, and slamming him to the ground. Squeezing his throat, he clenched his teeth; fighting back tears, "YOU'RE NEVER GONNA LAY A HAND ON HER EVER AGAIN! YOU GOT THAT! NEVER!"

'Freddy...' Angel was mortified. She never seen her friend act like this before, 'Freddy, please stop!' she pulled on his shirt, 'Please, stop, Freddy! He wasn't doing anything to me!'

But these words only encouraged his anger more and he squeezed even harder, "Never... Again!"

"Blob, stop!" Logan knelt down in front of Blob, trying to pry his hands off of his arch nemisis, "Blob! I know how much you hate this guy. I hate him just as much as you do, but you can't kill him."

"And why not?! Why can't I kill this sick son of a bitch?! He hurt, Angel!"

"Because... He ain't worth it. An' you're not a killer."

"I have to protect Angel, Logan!"

"I know. But look at her." they both looked at Angel, who was now weeping into the back of Freddy's shirt, "You kill him right now, everything you've been tryin' to do will go out the window, an' Angel won't ever look at you the same way again."

'Please stop, Freddy... Please... Stop.'

At these words Freddy finally let go and stood up.

Sabertooth coughed violently and Angel rushed to his side, 'Daddy! Daddy are you okay?'

"I'm (cough) fine! I'm fine!" he pushed her away, glaring at Logan and Freddy. He smirked, "And to think ya wanted to fuck that. He'd more than likely strangle ya than love ya. Is that the kind of man ya want?"

Logan suddenly punched him in the back of the head, "Blob, grab her now!"

Angel tried to run, but Freddy grabbed her. Tucking her under his arm like a foot ball, he raced back to the mansion to let the two ferals duke it out.

Logan popped out his claws, ready to fight, "Now that our little distraction is out of the way... Let's finish this once and for all."

"Oh, but I'm not finished, Logan. Not by a long shot." Sabertooth swept Logan's legs out from under him and took off for his truck, "I'll be back fer Angel another time and when I have her... We'll play for keeps."

Meanwhile, back with Freddy and Angel...

Angel squirmed against Freddy's grasp, but he held tight. They had made it to the waterfall that led to the hidden passage of the black jet, there he had decided to stop, and rest. He sat down on a nearby rock, while holding Angel on his lap.

"Angel! Stop squirmin' will ya?"

'Let me go, Freddy! Let me go right now!'

"Are you gonna go running back to your dad?"

'What do you think?!'

"Well, then I hope you like it here, cause I ain't lettin' you go until you've calmed down and start thinkin' straight."

'Ooh! I hate you!' she kicked him in the knee.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

'For being a jerk! Ugh! Hrrrrrgh!'

"I ain't letting you go."

'Hrgh!'

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop it! Quit kicking me!" unfortunately for him, she didn't stop, "Ow! Okay! That's it!" he then flipped her face down over his lap.

Angel gasped, 'Y-You're not going to spank me are you?!'

"Oh, believe me, I very fucking tempted right now. But I'm not going to. I just needed to reposistion you to give my knee a break. Ow! I thought you couldn't access your powers unless you were pissed off at Logan?"

'Apparently I have a new anger trigger for them to kick on and off.' she paused and looked around for a bit, 'Okay, I'm calm now. Will you finally let me up?'

"You promise you're not gonna run back to your dad?"

'Promise.'

"Okay." he let go, keep a watchful eye on her as she got up. She stretched, waited a few moments, and tried to run. But he was prepared for it and brought her back down over his lap, "Should of seen that comin'. You promised me you wouldn't run!"

'I had my fingers crossed, so sue me.'

He wiped his hand down his face and groaned, "You make this very hard you know that? Why can't you see that your dad is playing you?"

'He isn't playing me! He loves me.'

"Oh, yeah. Nothing says I love you like beating and raping your own child."

She was fell silent. Knowing that what he said was true, she just wouln't allow herself to admit it.

"Angel?" he received no response, "Angel?" he risked pulling her up, so that he could get a better look at her face. His heart sank when he saw that empty look she held in her eyes, "Aw, man..." he pressed his forhead against hers, "I'm sorry."

'No. It's okay... I'm the one who should be sorry. I've been ignoring everything around me and everything that you and everyone else has been trying to tell me about Sabertooth. I know that what he does to me is wrong and that I don't deserve any of the punishments that he gives me, but I can't help it. I've been with him for so long that I've come to expect it. I need the pain. The punishment. Just to know that he has some feelings for me.' she paused to take a breath. Freddy stayed silent, so that she may finish, 'Oh, God, Freddy!' she wept, 'I don't want to continue living like this! But I can't stop loving him. Mama said to love my father no matter what. Even though he gets angry and mean, she said that he's still a good man. Some days he's kind to me and most he's a monster...' he pulled her into his lap and held her in a protective hug as she began to shake and weep uncontrolabley, 'Freddy... I think I need help.'

"Don't worry, Angel. I'm here. I'm here. I'll help you however way I can, but you gotta do something for me."

'What's that?'

"You have to let Xavier and the other's help you as well. No more fighting them. Especially Logan. Alright?"

'Alright.' she sniffed nuzzling closer to him. He looked down at her with with great compassion and gentle eyes and she looked up into his eyes with eyes of fear, yerning, and love.

He hugged her and kissed the top of her head, "Come on. Let's go home."


	22. Therapy and Truths

Chapter 22

Therapy and Truths

Author's Note: Hey, everyone. I'm sorry for not typing on a regular basis. I've been having bad writers block. I'm not exactly sure how I'm doing after such a long absence. If it's not too much trouble, could anybody who's still interested in this story write a review, please? Thank you. Now... ON WITH THE STORY!

While Freddy took Angel back to the mansion, Logan tried to track down Sabertooth and apprehend him, but Sabertooth was long gone by the time he reached where the scent stopped.

"Damn it, Sabertooth! What's your game?" he growled with irratation and headed back to the mansion. He contacted Xavier with his mind, "Charles. Sabertooth was just here and we nearly lost Angel."

'Is she alright?'

"Yeah, Blob's takin' here back home right now. I think we quit beating around the bush and start some major therapy for that girl. As in now."

'Alright. Once we've all had breakfast, we'll go ahead and start the therapy sessions. If it's not any trouble, Logan, will you make sure that she doesn't run away?'

"Will do."

He arrived back at the mansion within 15 minutes and found Freddy and Angel sitting on the front steps. He walked up to them, glaring at Angel. Angel glared back, but not with the usual intense hate that she has for him.

"Breakfast will be startin' soon. You two better get inside and wash up." Freddy and Angel nodded, got up, and headed towards the front door. Logan called Angel back, "Angel." she turned, "After breakfast you're to go to the Professor's office to start your therapy sessions."

Angel didn't reply, she simply stared at him with distaste, but nodded her acknowlegement and went inside.

Breakfast went pretty well. Everyone was talking and laughing. The only ones' who didn't talk were Logan, Freddy, and Angel.

Angel didn't eat very much. She was nervous about the therapy session and feared the consequences that might occur for her actions this morning. She was so worried that she took off her communication device so that no one would hear the many thoughts that raced through her head. Her actions did not go unnoticed by Freddy nor Logan. Logan, who was still pretty angry about this morning simply kept a watchful glare on her to make sure that she didn't try to pull anything stupid. Freddy, who was more sympothetic towards what had happened had taken her hand into his and held it reasuringly.

After breakfast when everyone had left to go do their own thing, Logan marched Angel towards Xavier's office, and opened the door. Freddy tried to follow, but Logan gave him a death glare that sent shivers down even his spine. He pushed her in and started to close the door behind her.

"Wolverine. I need you here as well." called Xavier.

"Why?" Logan asked suspiciously.

"I have my reasons. Now would you please come in and cooperate?"

"Fine." he walked in and closed the door behind him, leaning against it with his arms folded in front of his chest, "Better make it snappy, I have some work I want to do on by bike."

"Patience, Logan."

"After what happened this morning, Charles... My patiences is a little thin today." he glared at Angel.

Ignoring Logan, he focused his attention on Angel, "Angel." he looked at him him, "Please, have a seat and tell us about today's events. Logan told me that you had an unexpected visitor."

She looked down at her feet, shuffling them nervously, 'My dad came...'

"Did he now? An exactly transpired between you two?"

'We talked.'

"Is that all?"

'That's it. We just talked.'

"Tell him what else happened, kid."

Angel shot and angry glare at Logan, the turned back around; looking back down on the floor, 'I tried to go back home with him.'

The room fell silent and Xavier waited to make sure that Angel was done, then he asked, "Why?"

Her head shot up and she gave him a confused look, 'Excuse me?'

"Why did you try to go back home with him?"

'I wanted- I wanted-' she looked back down at the floor, 'I just wanted to go home. He need's me and... I need my dad.'

"Angel... After everything that you've been through, why do you still believe that you need him?"

'What the hell kind of question is that?!'

"One that I want you to answer."

'Well, here's a question for you, cue ball. Why the hell are you talking to me like I'm a little kid? I ain't exactly stupid you know. Since I can't talk, I've spent years learning to observe everything around me, and learning to tell when people are just feeding me bull shit instead of getting to the point.' she stood up and headed for the door, 'Call me when you feel like having a real therapy session.' Logan stepped in her way and blocked the door, 'Move aside, Mini-Creed, I'm not in the mood to fight right now.'

Logan growled and stepped forward threateningly, "The session's not over, darlin'. Why don't you do us both a favor and sit back down.'

'And who's gonna make me? You? You can't tell me what to do, Logan. You're not my father!'

"Logan. Let her leave."

"What?"

"We've already made more progress than I expected. We can continue this session again after lunch."

Logan stared at Xavier, then went back to Angel. Grudgingly he stepped aside and opened the door. He growled at her and she growled at him, sticking her tounge out before she left his view. He snarled and started off after her.

"Logan! Leave her be. There's still one thing that I wish to speak to you about. Please, close the door."

When Angel left the room she saw Freddy and immediately ran straight up to him.

"That was quick." he frowned.

'Xavier said to take a break. I have to go back after lunch though.'

"Oh." he looked back at the door, "Why didn't Logan come out?"

'Xavier wanted to talk to him about something. Frankly, I don't care. Is it alright if I take a nap in your room?'

"Yeah. Go ahead. I'm just gonna hang out with Todd for a while."

'Okay.' with that she left.

Freddy turned back to the door and wondered if he should try and ease drop. His decision was made when Xavier entered his mind and warned him not or else he'll be dancing around in a pink ballet outfit fashioning a tutu alround the school grounds. He went searching for Todd, but that he was napping in the room as well. Freddy sighed and searched for something else to do. He made his way to the school's rec room and found that the only person there was Scott.

"Oh, great." he mumbled, "Just what I need. The good soldier boy in the same room as me."

Scott was playing pool and had heard what Freddy had said. He decided to ignore it and try to be friendly him for once, "Hey, Dukes. You wanna play some pool?"

"Nah. Pool ain't my thing. I'm just gonna probably play a few video games or something."

"That's cool. The new "Mortal Kombat vs DC" is over there by the way."

"Have you played it yet?"

"Yeah. It's okay. But I really don't play video games much. Don't really have the time being an X-Man and all."

"Oh." Freddy sat down in front of the tv and turned on the system.

"So, Dukes... Where's Todd and Angel?"

"Huh? Oh, uh... They're both taking a nap."

"A nap? But they both just woke up!"

"They ain't exactly mornin' people." Freddy felt uncomfortable talk to his long time rival, but he felt obligated to set an example for Angel. "So, uh... You and Jean... You two still a thing?"

"Yeah, well... I mean no. Not yet at least. She's still sort of dating Duncan."

"Duncan, huh? An' I thought Red had more taste in men."

"Yeah, me too." Scott laughed, "What Jean see's in him I'll never know."

"If I were you, Summers, I'd snatch her up before she flies away."

Scott scratched the ball and looked up at Freddy, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that Jean is a very hot chick that can have any guy she wants and believe me, there's a lot of guys standing in line to get a shot at her."

"I hope you're not referring to her as loose, Dukes." he said in a dark voice.

"Put the shades away, Summers. I meant nothing by it. Besides, it's completely obvious that Jean has the hots for you anyways."

"W-What? How do you-"

"It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, Summers. Hell, I've practically know since my first day at Bayville High."

"If you knew, then why did you try to force Jean to go out with you?"

"If you haven't noticed, Summers. Girls' don't go for guys like me. I'm not exactly stud farm material, you know?"

"I can see your point."

"Anyways, what girl would want me?"

"I can think of one girl that would. Angel."

Freddy froze, he lost focus on his game for so long that the screen blared GAME OVER.

Scott looked at him with concern, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." he stood up, turned off the game, and started to leave the room.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine didn't I?!"

Scott laid down the cue stick and walked up to him, "Hey, I'm sorry that I offended you. It's just you two seem to hit it off pretty well and I've seen how she looks at you everytime your around. I'm surprised that you haven't noticed." his eye brows raised, when he noticed that Freddy's fists were tightly clenched and shaking, "O-kay. I take it that you have noticed."

"Look!" Freddy snapped, "I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"

"Okay, then." he dropped the subject and stepped aside, "If you don't want to talk about it, then I'm not going to force you. Hopefully things will sort themselves out. Just remember if you need someone to talk to you know where to find me."

"If I need someone to talk to, then I'll go find Toad."

Scott watch him storm down the hallway till he was out of sight. He stood there scratching his head, "Man! Talk about touchie. Well, at least the rec room is in one piece."

Meanwhile, back in Xavier's office shortly after Freddy had left...

Look sat down and propped his feet up on Xavier's desk, "Alright, Chuck. Tell me what's goin' on."

Xavier leaned back, interlocking his fingers, and pressing them to his lip, "I wanted to talk to you about Angel."

"Oh, great. My favorite subject. Look, Chuck, I ain't exactly fond of the kid, but at least I don't attack her on sight."

"I know, Logan. But your feeling might change pretty quickly."

"What do you mean pretty quickly?"

"Logan... Beast and I did did some tests and found that Sabertooth is not Angel's biological father."

"Oh, really?" Logan cracked his knuckles, "That's gonna make killin' Creed all the more sweeter."

"Logan." Xavier gave him a warning glare, "Will you, please let me finish?"

"Sorry, Charles. You know how Sabertooth gets under my skin no matter where he's at."

"Yes. I do." he cleared his throat and continued, "However, the good news is we know who her father is and unfortunately... We believe that Angel knows as well."

"Well, then spit it out, Charles. Who is the proud father of a psychotic bouncing baby girl?"

"You are, Logan."

"Excuse me?" Logan sat up straight and leaned forward, "Run that by me again. I don't think I heard ya right."

"You are Angel's biological father, Logan.


	23. Problems, Problems Everywhere

Chapter 23

Problems, Problems Everywhere

For once in his life Logan did not know what to say. The knews of Angel being his biological daughter was such a shock to him that he sat there staring into emptiness with his mouth hanging open.

"Logan?" Xavier waved his hand infront of Logan's face, "Logan!" he snapped his fingers a couple of time, then Logan finally snapped out of it.

"Ugh! Sorry, Charles." he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm having a hard time processing what you just said. Are you sure Angel is my daughter?"

"Yes. When I went inside her mind I saw a memory of Sabertooth and her mother talking about you being her real father, before her alter personality locked it away. I had Hank do a DNA test just to make sure. It came out positive."

"So, Angel definately knows that I'm her father?"

"It's hard to say honestly. Her alter personality has been trying to lock it away any memories that it doesn't like, but it seems to be having a difficult time keeping certain parts of her past quiet." he noticed that Logan's expressions were changing drastically and became very worried, "Are you going to be alright, Logan?"

"I don't know, Charles. All this time I've been wantin' to kill Creed for all the hell that he's put that girl through, then I come to practically loath the kid for tryin' to kill me every chance that she gets, and now that I find out that the kid I don't like very much is my very own flesh and blood." he ran his hands through his hair, "It's just a lot to take in, Prof."

"I know, Logan."

"Why didn't you tell me this when you first found out?"

"I didn't want you to go after Creed in a blind rage. If you killed him, then all of us would have to face the wrath of Angel. Even if she knew that you're her father, I doubt she would welcome you with open arms."

"Grr I wish you would've told sooner, Professor..." shaking his head, he left the room.

"Logan! Where are you going?!"

"I'm goin' out!"

Xavier tried to follow him, "Out where?"

"Just out! I'll tell ya later when the mood suits me."

"Logan!"

Logan disapeared out of Xavier's site and headed straight for the garage. On his way there he bumped into Freddy, who was turning around the corner.

"Watch it, kid!" he growled as he pushed past the younger man.

"Jeez! What's your problem?"

"None of your buisness!" Logan roared, opening the door to the garage and slammed it.

"Jesus..." Freddy turned around and saw Xavier staring at the garage door with a grim expression. "Professor?" Xavier took one look at Freddy and disapeared back inside his office, closing the door behind him. "O-kay... That was weird." he heard a door open down the hall, he turned around, and saw Todd rubbing his eyes.

"What's goin' on, yo?" Todd yawned, "What's with all the racket?"

"You know about as much as I do, buddy. The more we stay here, the more our lives become a soap opera."

"I'd rather it be a soap opera than a horror story, yo." he stretched his back and leaned against the doorway, "Speaking of horror stories, how'd Angel's therapy go?"

"She has to go back at noon. Is she still asleep?"

"Oh, yeah. Out like a light." he studied Freddy for a moment before he continued, "How long do ya think it'll be before Angel's all better?"

"Dunno. However long it takes I guess. Why?"

"You do know that sooner or later we'll eventually have to go back to the Brother Hood with or without her."

"I ain't leavin' Angel here by herself, Todd! I made a promise to her that I wouldn't abandon her."

"Promises are great an' all, yo. But they don't mean diddley squatt to Mystique and Magneto. If we don't go back, then they'll come get us, and Angel will be at risk because Sabertooth works for Magneto."

"And if we do go back, then what? Angel will feel betrayed and go back to her father. That's a risk I'm not willing to take. You can go back if you like, but I'm not leaving. If Mystique and Magneto has a problem with it you can tell them that they can go to Hell."

"You're sure about this?"

"I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life, Todd. I love her."

Todd smirked, "I'm glad to hear you say that." he pushed himself off the doorway and hopped on the wall next to Freddy, "If you're gonna stick around this joint, then I am too. I can't let these goody goodies rub off on my best buddy. An' besides, who's gonna be there to coach ya on the way of romance when you an' Angel finally hit it off?"

"Oh, yeah right!" Freddy laughed, playfully putting Todd in a head lock; giving him a noogie, "Since when did you become Cerino De Bersurack?"

"Dude! Since when did you start reading books?"

"Ha Ha Very funny." he let him go and motioned with his head towards the kitchen, "Come on. Let's go raid the fridge."

"I hope there's some fudge ripple left, yo. That stuff is really addicting."


	24. Inside the Beast's Lair

Chapter 24

Inside the Beast's Lair

Noon time rolled around the corner and Angel had reluctantly gone to her therapy session with Xavier. Much to Xavier's dismay, Logan did not come back. So he had to continue the session

without him. For a while Xavier only sat in his chair, resting his chin on folded fingers, and stared silently into Angel's eyes. She stared back at him feeling rather uncomfortable, but she did not break away.

Finally Xavier broke the silence and spoke, "Well, Angel, I'm certainly glad that you came to the second session today. Maybe this time we can progress a little further, hm?"

"Yeah, whatever." she sat back in her chair and stretched out her legs, "Let's just get this over with so you declare me sane."

"No one said that you weren't, Angel."

She rolled her eyes, "Uh huh Can we start now, please?"

"Very, well." he sat up, "I would very much like to continue the topic of Sabertooth-"

"And I would very much not."

"Angel." he said calmly, "You said you would be cooperative."

"And I will continue to be cooperative as long as you stop trying to turn me against my dad."

"Why won't you talk about him? Do you still believe that he loves you?"

"No. I just don't want to talk about him to someone that's already made up their mind about him. I know that no matter what I tell you, you'll still look at him like he's a monster, and see me as a pathetic little girl who won't turn against her daddy. Do I need to spell it out more clearer to you?"

"No, I supose you don't." he thought for a while, then came up with a suggestion, "Even though you do not wish to talk about your father, how about to aproach the subject in a different matter?"

She arched a curious eyebrow, "How so?"

"With your permission of course, I would like us to enter your mind and have you relive some of your past memories."

The color drained from her face, "I would prefer not."

"It's quite harmless and I promise if things start to become too much for you, then we will simply stop, and you spend the rest of the day however you please. How does that sound?"

"I'm still not sure..."

"I promise you that we will stop whenever you want."

"Okay..."

"Alright then. I want you to close your eyes and open up your mind to me." she did as she was told and he continued, "Now take a deep breath and just relax." he felt an entrance into her mind and smiled, "Good. You're doing really well, Angel."

"That's fine and all, but how will I know when we're even inside my mind?"

"Just open your eyes."

Slowly she opened her eyes to see that she was in a totally different room. It was small, square, with walls, and no door nor windows. She gazed around with fear, then turned her attention to Xavier, "What is this place?"

"This is your mind, Angel. One of the many layers that I am able to reach, we can reach many more, but only if you allow it."

She looked around the room once more, "How?"

"Try touching one of the walls."

She walked over to the wall behind her and touched it, nothing happened, "Professor?"

"You must want it to open or else this is as far as we go."

She frowned and began focusing on the wall, "Open." nothing happened, "Please?" the wall opened and there she found herself in a black void filled with hundreds of floating chests with locks on them, "Wow..." she turned to Xavier, "What are those, Professor?"

"I suppose they are representations of memories that you have locked away over the period of your life time."

"All of these?!" she walked under one that floated a few feet above her head, looking at it, and then one right next to it, "They're different... Why is that, Professor?"

"Different? How?" he walked over to her side.

"Look at the locks. This one has one lock and the one next to it has three."

"Hmm" he studied the locks carefully, "I believe... That the number of locks on the chests means the more difficult they will be to open."

She looked over to her left, "That one looks like it can only be opened by C4."

He looked over to where she was looking and his eyes widened, "My word!" there he saw a chest covered in locks and chains and in the center is a lock with a black heart. "What secrets are you keeping in that one I wonder."

"Hell if I know. I don't know what in any of these chests. Do you think I should open one?"

"If you do, then might I suggest one with only one lock, for now at least. I don't want you to become strained or frightened away from our sessions."

"Okay..." she looked back up at the one that had been hovering over her and touched it, "I-I can't get it to come down!"

"Will it to come down."

"Come!" the chest floated down into her hands, placing her hand on the lid; the lock shattered, "Whoa!" a white light appeared as she opened it and then the whole room was engulfed in it's array.

They were at Bayville High School, back in the basement of her and Freddy's hiding place. There Xavier and her watched as another Angel had leaned in and kissed Freddy on the lips. The present Angel slammed the chest shut and everything went away. Her face blushing bright red.

"I take it that that one was a more recent memory?"

"And a private one at that!" she released the box and reached for another, hesitent at first, but she opened it.

Xavier grounds appeared and there was Angel bent over Freddy's knee and just as before the box was slammed shut.

"Alright! That's it! I ain't opening anymore!"

"Why were you over Freddrick's knee?"

"Shut up! It's none of your business." she growled, "Anyways, it's not what you're think, Mr. Nosey."

He sighed, "Well, at least try one more box. Let's say... One with two locks?" she made a face, "Just one more."

"Okay." she reached for one with two locks and opened it.

The room changed to that of her home. There was Victor Creed beating her and raping her for what she had written in her diary."

"It's all his fault!" Creed roared, "He's the one that makes me do this! It's all his fault!"

Angel's body froze at the scene. Tears streamed down her eyes as she watched the scene go on. Once she saw the tables turn and it was Angel now beating Creed to a bloody pulp she nearly scremed inside her own mind.

"That isn't me! That isn't me!"

"Your right..." came a dark voice, "It isn't you."

"Angel! We must leave your mind now!"

"Oh... I don't think so, baldy!" the dark voice manifested into a body and it landed with a thud on top of one of the floating chests. It had a black animal like body that had streams of crimson red glowing in place of veins and glowing red eyes. There were no other features, but it's black body. It stared down at Xavier, "You entered my territory once before, old man, and I let you escape. Believe me, that's the last mistake that I'll ever make!" it leapt down to pounce on him, Xavier dodged it's attack.

"Who are you?!" Angel screamed, "I don't ever remember seeing you in my life!"

The creature turns it attention on her, tilting it head as though mocking her, "Who am I? ha ha I am you. The you you wish you were." it began to approach her, "I am the darkness who is your savior. I am the creature you becon when you are alone. I am the child who disired, while you are despised. I am your demon."

"M-My demon?"

"Oh... Didn't daddy ever tell you what you really are? Oh. That's right." it cackled, "Daddy never told you anything, because daddy didn't even know you were born."

"What are you talking about?! Daddy-"

"Daddy isn't who you think he is, Angel." it rushed up and grabbed Angel by the throat.

Xavier rushed up to the creature trying to pull it off of her, "Let her go now! Angel! Angel!"

Without removing it's gaze it struck Xavier, "It's impolite to interrupt! Now then... Where were we? Oh, yes. I was about to give you a rude wake up call. Sabertooth's not your real father, Angel. Logan is."

A tear rolled down her cheek, "No... No! That's not true! That's not true!"

"Oh, but it is." it faced moved closer to hers, "You know it's true and I can prove it." it held out it's hand and a chest floated gingerly into it, "Look inside the box."

"No..."

"Look inside the box!"

"No!"

"Grrrrr Fine!" it opened the box, "Then I'll make you see!"

The box opened, a flash came, Angel's old house appeared, and there was little Angel standing in the door way listening to her mother and father's conversation.

"I can't accept her, when I know she's not mine! Why'd you have to sleep with him? Why'd you have you sleep with that runt Logan?!"

"What can I say? I never could resist hairy, muscular men."

The box slammed shut.

"No!"

"Oh, for the love of-" it crushed the box in with one hand, "There! Now that memory won't be locked away anymore. You'll just have to deal with the fact that putrid excuse of a mortal is our father!"

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Because, my dear, Angel... I'm sick and tired of having to listen to you every single fucking day about how it's Logan's fault that quote on quote "Daddy" is the way he is. Well, listen up, bitch! You're blonde daddy is the way he is because he's fucking insane! And as to why he raped you, it's because you look like mommy dearest, and he wanted to tap that before Blob boy did. Am I making any sense to you at all?!" the only response it got was more of Angel's crying, "Grrr Stop your whining! Stop it or else I'll kill you and take over! And when I take over, trust me... I'll be sure to kill that fat waste of space once and for all. We deserve better anyways. Maybe that Pietro boy? Hmm I liked that glimmer of hate in his eyes. Think of the breeding possiblities."

"NOOOOOOO!!!"

"ANGEL!!!" Xavier reached out once again, desperation stronger than ever, and he pulled them both out before things had gotten any worse.

When they returned to reality, both sweating, and breathing heavily; Angel slammed her hands down and bolted out of the room.

"Angel! Wait!"

'Just leave me alone!'

"Angel, please! We need to talk about this!"

'Talk to this!' she removed the communication headband and chucked it at Xaviers head, 'I'm never doing that ever again.'

The force that the headband had hit Xavier was so strong that it literally shattered. Xavier stared down at the pieces that laid in his lap. A wave of sorrow hit him as he thought of the possibilty that Angel will never continue the sessions ever again.

Freddy was sitting in his bedroom, when he heard his door burst open and slam shut. He looked up to see Angel standing with her back against the door; tears streaming down her face. He stood up quickly, ready to race to her side, but she beat him to it. She clung to his overhalls and wept.

Freddy lifted her head, so that she would be looking him in the eyes, and said, "What's wrong? Did something happen during the session?" it took him a while to realize that she was no longer wearing the communication device, "Where's your communicator?"

'I threw it away...' she signed. 'I hate that thing and I hate those therapy sessions! I'm never going back to them. Never!'

"But you need those sessions, Angel."

'I don't care!' she began shaking, 'I don't want to see her again!'

"Her?"

'It was horrible!' she gulped, 'She was so scary and... And...'

"Who are you talking about, Angel?"

'Well-' she turned her head to the side, looking at herself in the mirror; her eyes widen as she saw her own reflection stare back at her, but with the eyes of the creature that she saw inside her head. If she could scream, she would. In an act of fear she pushed away from Freddy and ran out the door.

"Angel!"

She bolted down the hall, down the stairs, out the front door, and back into the woods. Those eyes had scared her and she wanted to get as far away from them that she could. She didn't know where she was going and she didn't care. Even as she ran away, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was not alone; that there was a presence with her the whole way.

"What's wrong, Angel?" said a familiar voice inside of her head, "Running away from your problems again?"

'Stay away from me!' she ran faster.

"Running's not gonna help you, little girl. You can't out run your own mind."

'I can sure as hell try!' the voice cackled at her, 'Why now! Why after all this time do you choose to make my life hell?!'

"Thank the professor. He's the one that opened the door and trespassed into my domain not once but twice. I was more than happy just being the dirty little secret that only came out when you were too chicken shit to deal with life."

'I'm not-'

"Blah Blah Blah You are a broken record that no one wants to hear and what's worse is that I live inside of your head, so it's a non stop re-run."

'What do I have to do to get you out of my head?!'

"That's the thing. You can't. And I can take control anytime I want and I can block whatever memories that are inside your head that I deam nessicery for both our sanities." it paused for a moment, "Are you trying to block me? Seriously! Are you, the pathetic weakling, trying to block the one being that has the most control over your own mind?"

'Whatever it takes to shut you up. I already have enough on my plate without you abusing me.'

"Oh, yes. Why should I bother, when someone else is already doing the job for me."

'Go away! Just go away!' she focused her mind and felt the voice begin to grow fainter.

"You can't get rid of me so easily, Angel. Sooner or later, I will come out, and when I do... You'll wake up to a hell that's far worse than death itself."

With that the voice went away and Angel dropped to her knees, gasping for air. Inside her mind, she imagined a box similar to the chests that she saw earlier, and she pretended that the creature inside her head was being locked away and sealed in cement.

'I won't let you hurt anyone else. I won't let you hurt my Freddy. I'll kill myself before you get the chance.'


	25. Tears of an Angel

Chapter 25

"Tear's of an Angel"

Freddy stormed into Xavier's office, belowing at the top of his lungs, "WHAT THE HELL DID YA DO TO HER?!!"

Taken back by Freddy's outburst, Xavier nearly toppled out of his chair, "GAH!!! Freddrick!"

Freddy stomped up to him, grabbed his wheel chair, lifted it up along with him inside, and slammed him high up into the wall, "WHAT THE HELL DID YA DO TO, ANGEL?!!"

"Freddrick, calm down!"

"YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO BE HELPING HER! NOT MAKING HER CRY!"

Xavier had no choice but to use his powers on the young mutant or else he would risk total destruction of his office and possibly his life. "Freddrick! You are going to calm down now!" he focused his mind, making Freddy put him down and back away. Freddy grunted and struggled against Xavier's powers, but it was all in vain. "Now... You are going to remain calm and we will discuss this as adults. Do you understand me?"

"Nugh! I-I under... stand..."

"Good." Xavier released his hold.

Just as soon as he did. The rest of the X-men who were present inside the mansion, including Toad, had come rushing to the rescue.

"Professor!" yelled Scott, "Are you alright?! What happened?" his heart jumped at the sight of the room.

"It's alright, everyone. Freddrick and I are having a private conversation right now, so if you would be so kind..." he motioned for them to go, but found that they were all hesitant, "It's alright. I'll call you if I need you." with that everyone had left, leaving the two alone, "Now, then. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?"

"I wanna know what you did to make Angel cry."

Xavier heaved a heavy sigh, "Something happened in the session that I wasn't expecting and things went wrong."

"What exactly?"

"I tried having her approach her past by entering her mind and having unlock repressed memories that she has built up for her life time. It was all going well, until..."

"Until what, Professor?"

"Until Angel met her other personality."

"What?"

"Angel apparently has another personality that isn't exactly friendly and is a bit more dangerous than most. I encountered it once before when I entered her mind."

"Wait! You mean-"

"Yes, Freddrick. The first and only time I went into her mind and came out with claw marks on my chest."

"What the hell you take her in there for?"

"I wasn't expecting it to be so close to the surface..." he held his head in one hand and sighed, "Where is Angel right now, Freddrick?"

"I don't know. She came to my room crying, the bolted. I think something spooked her."

"Oh, no!" Xavier tried to wheel out of the office, but his chair wouldn't move do to the damage Freddy had done to it, "Freddrick! We need to find Angel right now! I fear that I may have opened a rift inside her mind that may allow the other personality more access to her subconcious."

"I'll take you to cerebro!"

"No. We have to get a hold of Logan, only he will be able to find her. Niether cerbro nor I will be able to find her. She is not a true mutant and she is able to block my powers. I'll contact Logan myself, you and whoever is left inside the mansion go and find her."

Meanwhile, outside; back where Angel had stopped...

Angel breathed heavily as she struggled to lock away her inner demon, completely unaware that she was not alone. Footsteps fell quietly as they approached her and a large hand touched her shoulder. She froze at the touch, too exhausted from her run and fighting with her inner demon that she was unable to focus any of her senses, and too weak to possibly put up much of a fight. She gulped with fear and slowly turned her head to see who the hand had belonged to.

Logan was staring at the child with a grim expression. He had stormed out of the mansion earlier and went for a ride, but on his way back he wasn't ready to back inside. So he decided to meditate in the woods till he had calmed down. His meditation was disturbed by the sounds of Angel's frantic running and he was shocked to see that she had not noticed that she had just ran by him. Once he saw her face, he immediatey recognized the expression she held in her eyes. Tourment, fear, rage, and something deep inside that wanted to come out that she did not.

"Hey..." he said in a gruff, but soft voice, "You okay?"

Angel wiped her eyes and turned away from him. At the moment she was glad that it wasn't Sabertooth who had found her, but at the same time she was angry that it had to be Logan.

He tried again, "You wanna talk about it or continue watching the grass grow."

She scowled at his remark and pulled away from him. Standing back up, she turned to face him, gave him the finger, and began to walk off. Logan growled angrily, he reach out and grabbed her by her upper arm, and yanked her back to face him. The two of them stared at eachother defiantly, neither one backing down any time soon.

Suddenly Logan felt the presence of Xavier in the back of his mind.

'Logan?'

'What is it, Chuck? I'm kinda busy.'

'Whatever you're doing at this moment you need to stop and find Angel. Our therapy session went wrong and now she's run off.'

'Don't worry, Chuck. I've got Angel right here.'

'Oh, thank goodness.' Xavier paused for a moment, 'You haven't hurt her have you?'

'Not yet. The brat flipped me off and ain't talkin'.'

'Please, don't hurt her, Logan. She's been through a lot today and she has been remarkabley good up until now. Logan..."

'What?'

'She knows that you are her father.'

'So who blabbed? Beast?'

'No. The demon that's insider her did.'

'Say what now?'

'It's a long story. Just, please, bring her back before anything else happens and before Freddrick becomes more frantic.'

Logan stared down at the girl with pity, still unable to come to terms about his feeling of his new found daughter. He let go of her arm and motioned her with his head, "Come on. The other's are worried about ya. Especially your boyfriend."

She hesitated, but followed him non the less. They walked for a while and soon came across the others. Freddy and Todd were the first to greet her and had rushed up to her and embraced her in a bone crushing bear hug. Once they knew she was safe, they all headed back to the mansion, and spent the rest of the day relaxing. Logan however could not. He still did not know how to approach the subject of Angel and could not help but watch her whenever she was nearby. He was taking notes of her behavior, studying what makes her smile, what makes her sad, and what makes her tick. He found that most of her happiness came from being with Freddy and Todd, saddness came when she and Freddy were alone, and anger came when everyone asked her about her therapy sessions or about Sabertooth. But for some reason he found himself mostly interested why Freddy made her sad and chance came by when he walked upon the two conversing in the middle of the night in the kitchen. He watched with the door slightly cracked open.

Angel had already been given a replacement communicator, so she was able to speak once more without the use of her hands.

"Angel..." Freddy began, "I'm really worried about you. You've been running away a lot lately."

'I know.' she looked down at her feet, 'I'm sorry. I tried not to, but I just got scared.'

"Is it because of you other personality?"

'Who told you?!'

"Xavier."

'I could have sworn that therapists were sworn to secrecey about their patients.' she chuckled inside her mind, 'I can't believe that I just admitted that I'm crazy.'

"You're not crazy!"

'Oh, yeah? How can you be sure? You're not a doctor. You haven't seen what's inside my head. When I'm bullied, pissed, or near death I turn into an entirely different person. One that's not afraid to die or afraid to kill. If I've ever killed anyone I don't even remember it! And to make it all more fun, my alter personality talks to me and I talk back, so not only do people think I'm crazy, I act crazy too.'

"I know you, Angel. You're not crazy. You just have some problems-"

'You're not helping, Freddy.'

"Sorry... Look. I just... I just really worry about ya. I want you to get better that's all."

'That's all, huh?' she held disappointment in her voice, 'Nothing else?' she turned her back to him, hugging herself.

"Angel?" he reached out to her, but she walked away.

'It's strange really... Knowing that I have something living inside my head, waiting to take over any moment. Knowing that it hates everything that I know and love and hates me for being stupid and weak. I've seen the inside of my head, Freddy. It's filled with locked boxes with recent and past memories. I-I don't know why most of them were locked away. I don't even understand why it wants me to remember that horrible night when my fa-' her body trembled a bit, 'When... Victor Creed... Hurt... Me.' Freddy hugged her from behind and held her tight, 'I-I loved him as a daughter should. Mama told me that me loved me no matter how angry he'd gotten and that I should never stop loving him. Why... Why would he do such a thing like that to me?'

"Because he's a sick man, Angel, and I'm trying not to be mean. I never meant to force my feelings about him onto you. I just... I just wanted you to see him for what he really is. I don't want to lose you, Angel. You mean a lot to me."

She leaned into him, a tear running down her cheek, 'I don't want to lose you either, Freddy. I care about you more than just a friend. If we'd of gotten together long before all of this had happened, I'd have wanted you to be my first... But it looks like that can't happen now.'

He squeezed her tighter, "I'm so sorry, Angel. I wish I could have gotten you out of there sooner."

'Don't blame yourself, Freddy. There was nothing you could do... It was meant to be.'

"Don't say that!"

'It had to be done, otherwise... I would never have seen my fa-Sabertooth for what he really is. Even if you'd of told me he was bad news from the start, I would have never believed you. God! I'm such an idot!' she wept.

"Please, don't cry, Angel." he tried to hold back his tears, "I hate seeing you in so much pain."

Logan watched the two take comfort in eachother, he felt a moment of sorrow for the girl.

'And... And then she- it. It said that Father only did it because Logan stole his woman and that Logan's really my real father. Why would it say such a hurtful lie, Freddie? Why?'

Suddenly a flash of memories raced across Logan's mind and he found himself remembering having a one nighter with a very tall, blonde, beautiful woman; with cat eyes 17 years ago. She had told him that tomorrow was her wedding night, but it wasn't going to stop her from having one last bit of fun. If he had any morals back then, they all had just went out the door. Her scent was so alluring and she was so beautiful that he couldn't resist. He didn't even bother putting a condom on. When he woke up she was gone. Now as he stands in doorway, watching the young kids before him; he finally realized that Angel is really his offspring.

"She does look like her..." he mumbled.

"I don't know, Angel." said Freddy, "Maybe it's really true..."

'No... I don't want it to be true! My mother's not a whore!'

"At least talk to Beast and do a DNA test before you get worked up. And even if it is true, would it be so bad? He's one of the good guys."

'If he turns out to be my dad... I won't accept him. I don't want any more poser fathers'.'

Freddy said nothing for a while. He didn't want to upset her any more than what she already was. All's he could think of doing was letting her cry out her soul till she was finally calmed down.

After about 15 minutes of crying, she turned around, and hugged Freddy around the neck. He in turn leaned down to return the hug.

'You've always been so good to me, Freddy.' she kissed him on the cheek, 'I wish you would let me be more than just a friend.'

"Angel..."

'For whatever reason it is... I-I accept it and will continue to be your friend. Goodnight, Freddy.'

She kissed him once more on the cheek and left the kitchen. Logan had already made himself scarce by the time she was done talking. Once Freddy came out, he found Logan leaning against the wall with his arms folded and legs crossed.

"How long have you been there?"

"Logan enough." Logan pushed himself off the wall, "Want some friendly advice, kid?"

"Not really."

"Ask the kid out. Everyone knows that you like her and that she likes you."

"I-I can't."

"Hmph Then I hope you can live with yourself, knowing that you possibly let the 'one' get away." he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer, "Think about it."


	26. Never Insult Angel

Chapter 26

Never Insult Angel

For the rest of the week Angel continued her sessions with Xavier. The sessions were verbal instead of mental. Neither one of them wanted to risk another assult from the creature luking inside Angel's mind until they were fully prepared for it. In the mean time, Xavier had given Angel permission to go back to school along with the others'. He was quite confident that she wouldn't have anymore outbursts so long as she was in the company of friends. He was also sure that Sabertooth would not dare try anything with Magneto's son attending the same school.

They all attended their classes and even ate lunch together. Their union amongst their peers however did not go unnoticed.

"Oh, my god! Are they really sitting with those rejects?"

"I can't believe it. Sooooo uncool."

"Hmm They must be desperate for friends."

It took a great deal of restraint for Freddy to keep from going back to his bullying days. The only thing that kept him calm was Angel.

Lance and Pietro were sitting at their usual table, watching Freddy and Todd eating with their long time enemies. Pietro's eyes were filled with malice, while Lance's held confusion.

"I don't understand it." said Lance as he shook his head, "Why are Toad and Freddy sitting with them, when they're supose to be the enemy?"

"It's because of that bitch, Angel. She's poisoned them with her damsel in distress act." Pietro said with a hit of venom in his voice.

Lance looked at her, then to his friends, and then back at her again, "I don't know, Pietro. I mean... Toad was supose to be helping keep Angel away from Freddy-"

"And look at what a great job he's been doing." he smacked Lance in the shoulder, "Toad's a weakling. Easy to beat. Easy to manipulate. If you ask him for an apple, he'd come back with a coconut!"

"Hey! Don't talk about him like that. You may think he's stupid, but he's way more smarter than you give him credit for."

"Then, you're just as stupid as him."

"Fuck you, man! If you're gonna be this much of a prick, then I'm gonna sit over there with them."

"Ha! Don't make me laugh. You don't have the balls."

"Just watch me." Lance stood up, grabbed his lunch try, and walked over to the X-Men's table. Everyone simotaniously looked up as he approached. He stopped a few feet, his face was bright red, "Um... Uh..."

"What do you want, Alvers?" asked Scott with an annoyed expression.

"Well, um..." Lance cursed himself for not thinking this whole thing through. As he looked at Freddy and how happy he seemed to be, regretted doing the things he did to Angel, "Never mind." he went to head back to his table, but stopped when he felt a small hand on his arm. He turned, thinking that it was Kitty, but was surprised to see that it was Angel. She was smiling at him and was motioning for him to come sit down with the rest of them. He blinked, "You sure?" she nodded, "Uh... Thanks. I guess." He pulled up a chair and sat down between Angel and Kitty, who seemed to welcome him with the same warm smile.

"Took ya long enough." Kitty laughed.

Lance laughed nervously, "Yeah." He looked to Freddy and Todd, "Haven't seen ya for a while. Been kinda worried."

Freddy reached over Angel and patted him on the back, "Thanks, pal."

"Yeah, thanks, yo. Sorry we didn't call you to let ya know what was up. We were afraid that Mystique would be the one to pick up the phone."

"Yeah, she's not too happy with you guys right now."

"We figured as much." said Freddy.

"So, are you guys X-Men now?"

"Nah, we're just staying there as guests till Angel gets better." Freddy smiled, as he reached over and gave Angel a one armed hug.

"Whoa! Are you two goin' out or somethin'?"

"I wish." mumbled Todd as he took a drink from his milk carton and quickly dodged a hit from Freddy. "Ha! Ya missed me!" he was so cocky that he didn't even notice Freddy's foot reaching behind one of his chair legs and soon he was laying flat on his back, staring up at Freddy, "You suck!"

Freddy turned his attention back to Lance, "No. We're just friends." a wave a sadness hit him as he said those words, he ignored it, and quickly changed the subject, "Hey, Lance. You wanna hang with us after school today?"

"I dunno. It all depends on Mystique."

Todd finally got up off the floor and dusted himself off, "Oh, what's she gonna do? Have ya fight with X-Men? I can see how well that's gonna go with only two members."

"Weeeeeeell."

Suddenly Kitty latched onto his arm and gave him the cutest puppy dog look she could muster, "Oh, please, Lance! Come have fun with us. I promise you you won't regret it. Please?"

Once he looked into those baby blues of hers he could no longer say no, "Oh, alright."

"Yah!" she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, "You won't regret it."

Lance smiled, but inside he was worried about a certain speed demon that was staring at him with daggers in his eyes, "Oh, I hope not."

Later that evening before last period. Pietro told Lance, Todd, and Freddy that he wanted to speak to them privately. They accepted and they all went to go talk behind the football bleachers. The three boys weren't sure what Pietro wanted to talk about, but they had a pretty good idea.

Pietro was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. The others simply watched him and waited patiently. Finally after about 15 minutes of pacing, Pietro was ready to speak.

"Okay. The reason why I've called this little meeting is because we have a serious problem."

"We do?" they all said in unison.

"Yes. And that problem happens to be Angel!"

"You gotta be kiddin' me?" stammered Freddy.

"Oh, I wish I was, Blob." hate filled Pietro's eyes as he thought of Angel, "Don't you see what she's done to you? To all of us?"

"Uh, no. I don't."

"Figures. Listen, Blob. Angel's bad news. Because of her you ended up in the hospital, you're hardly around, you're hangin' out with those X-Geeks, and worst of all she's brought Toad and Avalanche into all of this!"

"It wasn't her fault, Pietro. I was trying to protect her from Sabertooth. Only reason I ended up in the hospital is because he slapped an power inhibbitor on me and it took away my powers."

"And why the hell would he have a power inhibbitor on him? Mutants don't carry things like those with like spare change ya know."

"Who the hell knows why he carries those things? He works for your dad, he probably keeps those on him in case Mags decides to go ape shit on his ass. Hell, I'd carry them if I had to work for your dad."

"Hey! You leave my dad out of this! We're here to talk about our situation with Angel."

"There is no situation with Angel, Pietro."

Pietro stared at his friend, he hated the way that Freddy smiled when he was around Angel, and he especially hated the way that Freddy was willing to sit with the enemy just to be next to her. "You're an idiot."

"What?"

"You heard me! That bitch has got you so wrapped around her dainty little finger that you can't even see that she's tearing the entire Brother Hood apart! The only reason that you don't see it is because you think that she's spread her legs for yo-ACK!!!" Pietro Maximoff may have superhuman speed, but his speed could not help him escape Freddy's wrath.

Pietro's words had hit the wrong cord with Freddy and before any of the Brother Hood knew it, Freddy had wrapped his hands around Pietro's neck, and was squeezing the life out of him. Todd and Lance were frozen with shock and fear, they didn't expect things to turn out this bad and they were scared to pull Freddy off of Pietro. The sight of Freddy's red face was enough ensentive to keep them standing where they stood.

"DON'T YOU EVER! EVER!!! TALK ABOUT ANGEL THAT WAY AGAIN! YOU HEAR ME?!! YOU KNOW NOTHING! NOTHING!!!" he squeezed so hard that Pietro's eyes were starting to roll into the back of his head.

Finally Todd stepped forward, "Fred, stop! You're gonna kill him!"

Freddy ignored him, "Angel is a good person dammit!"

Todd tried again, "Freddy! Come on, man, he can't breathe!"

Freddy growled and finally let the boy go. Pietro dropped to the ground, holding his throat, as he gasped and choked for air, "I stayed away for so long, because I wanted to protect her. She didn't trick me into anything that I didn't want to do. If you'd of gotten to know her like me and Todd have, then you'd wanna do whatever means necissary to help her." he was quiet for a while, when he spoke again his voice held venom with each word, "But you didn't want to get to know her... You wanted to hurt her for me getting put in the hospital." his face darkened and he snatched the boy up by the front of his shirt, "Todd told me exactly what you what him and Lance to do to Angel, while I was away... Instead of confront what you thought was the problem you went around and agitated it."

"Oh, yeah. Like she's ever gonna do anything about it. That mute freak doesn't have an ounce of backbone in her entire body."

"Becareful what you say, Pietro, otherwise it'll come back and bite you in the ass." he brought him closer to his, "But remember. You mess with Angel, you mess with me! Next time, I'll make sure that there's no one around to stop me from wringin' your scrawny neck." he threw Pietro into a nearby trash can and walked away.

Todd and Lance stared at Pietro before taking off after Freddy.

Lance looked to Todd and said, "Freddy really cares for her doesn't he?"

"Yeah. Angel feels the same way about him too."

"So, then why haven't they hooked up yet?"

"Freddy won't tell you this, but Sabertooth threatened Angel's life if Freddy didn't stay away. But something happened since their last meeting that I don't know what the stipulations are now. Sad thing is that he doesn't know how far in he's gotten himself in that it doesn't even matter anymore. I've been trying to convince him to grow some balls and ask her out, especially since she's under the protection of the X-Men, but he's just too scared."

"Man... I feel like a dooshbag now. I can't believe I let motormouth talk me into bullying her now."

"Hey, I felt the same way after Freddy told me too, so you're not alone."

"Thanks, man." Lance smiled at him, the raced up to Freddy, "Hey, Freddy! Hold on a second."

Freddy stopped, still holding a scowl on his face, "If this is about Pietro-"

"No, man. I just wanted to say... Well... That I'm sorry about bullying Angel. I was so angry about you getting hurt that Pietro's idea sounded good at the time. I'm really sorry, man. I didn't honestly know how you felt about her. To tell you the truth, I'm actually kinda jealous."

Freddy's expression softened, "What do you mean?"

"Well, what you feel for Angel is the same for what I feel for Kitty. Only you're actually doing something about it despite you being part of the Brother Hood. If I was committed to Kitty like you are to Angel, I'd actually have a chance. Even if it is just to be friends. Sooooo We still cool?"

"Yeah. We're still cool. Just so long as you don't pick on Angel ever again. Got it?"

"Got it."

Pietro struggled inside the trash can, until it finally toppled over. He crawled out with fresh garbage hanging from his body. He watched as his former friends walked back inside the building. "Oh, I'm gonna make you pay for this, Angel. If it's the last thing I do. You'll regret turning my friends against me."


End file.
